How to Twist a Dragon's Tail
by CessieRose25
Summary: Thirteen years after the events of HTCADC, the Haddock family and their adopted daughter, Ember, work to keep the peace in the Archipelago. However, after the Berserkers start taking an interest in Ember, they begin to suspect that a mysterious bandit targeting the Far Northern tribes may know something about her origins. T for safety
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: My Life? Whose Life?**

Have you ever wondered if your life has just been a mistake? Like you were never supposed to exist in the first place, or that you have too many questions about yourself that no one can really answer?

For me, that's pretty much been my life since I confirmed that I wasn't really the daughter of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III and his wife, Astrid – the Chieftains of Berk. That was eight-ish years ago when I was able to understand a bit about life but even so, they're still 'Ma' and 'Pa' to me, just not 'Mum' and 'Dad'. Don't get me wrong – they're the best family I could hope for...I just wish I knew who my real family was.

My name's Ember. That's really the only thing that I do know about myself. It's pretty obvious that I'm not the Chief's daughter even though Astrid and Hiccup try not to let me know otherwise – my hair is jet black that somehow shimmers auburn in the sunlight, my skin has no freckles whatsoever and my eyes are, of all colours, bright green-yellow. Seriously, who has eyes that colour? Well, me, obviously but I was being hypothetical. Flint says they look like dragons' eyes – I agree with him and am just grateful that he doesn't rub it in my face twenty-four-seven. Flint is Astrid and Hiccup's real child and their oldest son, by the way, and to be fair he's pretty good as a sibling figure. He's the spitting image of his dad except he's got his mum's blue eyes and blonde hair (although it was streaked with auburn if you looked close enough).

Flint and I have been good friends since forever but we still have our disagreements. For example, one time during dinner when we were five he made fun of me for having sucked in Combat Training that day and I just about lost it with him, going as far as to literally leap over the table without disturbing the food (don't ask me how), tackle him and pin his arms behind his back until he screamed for mercy. Okay, Astrid had to wrestle me away and Hiccup needed to calm me down but I prefer my version of events better. To make up for it, Flint promised that he wouldn't make fun of me again in Dragon Training but since then I've never given him cause to do so – I don't want to brag but I'm the best trainer our age in the village.

Outside Dragon Training, I used to be the weirdo of the village but that didn't necessarily make me the 'outcast' – I was, and kind of always have been, just a girl who's never quite been the same as everyone else my age – to be fair, it's just the fact that I don't know much about myself that set me apart during our childhood so it's not that big of a deal. Hiccup says that being that way isn't a bad thing – heck, he didn't exactly start having real friends until he was thirteen – but my main problem was that the other teens, excluding Flint, never used to see me as one of them because I'm not really native to Berk (it's not a problem anymore, just used to be). I've never quite understood that – I've lived here as long as they have, shouldn't that be enough to call Berk my home?

"Sounds like someone we knew." That's what Hiccup said to me once when I told him about it. He ignored my question of "Who?" and instead turned in the opposite direction having 'remembered' that he had a farming problem to sort out with the Ingermans on the other side of Berk. I asked Astrid about it and she simply told me that Hiccup didn't like talking about it and suggested that I go out to practise my axe-throwing skills in the forest. Yeah, trust my adopted mother to suggest combat practise to take your mind off things.

Speaking of my family, I might as well talk about them. My adopted father is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, also known as Hiccup the Dragon Trainer/Conqueror/whatever you want to call him, who just so happens to be the Chief of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe of Berk. He's not what you'd call your typical Viking – he's not the biggest man in the world (he makes up for it in height) and he prefers to negotiate and figure out problems with his head rather than his muscle but that's kind of what I like about him. He's probably the smartest man I know, not to mention a great chief (not that he likes the job that much, he just happens to be good at it). He's the one who took me into the family and, even if I don't know where I come from or how I got to Berk in the first place, I'll always be grateful to him for that and I'd do anything for him. Some people call me a 'Daddy's Girl' because of that but I don't think that really applies here given that he's not really my dad, hence why I just call him Pa. It's easier that way.

Astrid Horrendous Haddock I, also known as Astrid the Striking (so named because she is a good-looking lady and she packs a punch on the battle field – trust me, I've seen her), is, as I mentioned earlier, my adopted mother, although I just call her Ma. Whilst she's like Hiccup in that she's not the biggest Viking but she's still strong and can fight like a Valkyrie if she wants/needs to (sometimes a combination of both, although I'm not sure how that works). Like Hiccup, she is very smart and if there was one woman I'd love to be like when I'm older, it would be her. Whilst she can be a strict mother to me, Flint and the others at times, somehow I know that she means well and just does it to protect us. I don't know how I know, I just do.

Flint, like I've said before, is my best friend and adopted 'twin' brother. Okay, we're not technically twins given that our birthdays are...what? Five months apart (he was born just after Snoggletog – my birthday's halfway through summer)? We just call ourselves twins because we're the same age plus it makes me feel like less of an outsider. In fact, it was the revelation that Flint and I are the same age but have birthdays too far away from each other to be twins yet too close to each other to be separate siblings of the same family that gave it away to me that I wasn't really his blood relative. Okay, probably the entire village knew this before I did but I was a kid at the time! Don't judge. And besides, Astrid and Hiccup both act as if I don't know – I'm not sure if they know that I know I'm adopted but they act as if I'm their real daughter. Flint, like I said, looks like his dad with the exception of his mum's eyes and hair but his personality really comes from his mother – he's smart, true enough (most of the Haddocks are, from what I've seen. Emphasis on 'most', though – it fizzles out on the Jorgenson side of the family), but he is pretty impulsive and will get into fights if provoked. He's also inherited his mum's social skills, something I've heard Hiccup is more than relieved about.

Then there're the ones I haven't mentioned yet – the triplets, Lysa, Nott and Eva. They were born in the autumn eight years after me and Flint and, honestly, I don't think you could find a group of siblings who looked so alike and yet were so different. Lysa is pretty much a five-year-old female version of Hiccup – awkward socially, sarcastic and always with a witty comment up her sleeve. Nott is so quiet you wouldn't notice she was there sometimes and she's so shy she hardly leaves Astrid's side when we go out for walks, often hiding in her cloak or behind her dress or whatever she was wearing. Eva, on the other hand, is the complete opposite – you wouldn't have expected someone so egotistic to have come from the same family as the relatively humble-in-comparison Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. Like I said, they looked exactly the same, being the spitting image of their mother except with Hiccup's green eyes (something Astrid was happy with – she's a sucker for green eyes, apparently) and dark auburn hair, so it's really only their personalities which allow people to tell them apart.

That's the family I've grown up with. It's the best family I could have ever hoped for – a fair dad, a protective mum (I don't find it annoying personally – I like the attention Astrid gives us), a best friend brother and the obligatory slightly irritating younger sisters. Though there are times where I think of how nice it would be to know where I came from and who I really was. I mean, Astrid and Hiccup are great parents, but there's always the thought and knowledge that I feel guilty of having – they're not _my_ parents. I sometimes think of how great it would be to have my own mother kiss me goodnight, or my own father take me out flying on our dragons or even my own siblings to squabble with. I fell horrible about it, but I can't deny that the feeling's there.

I have to say though, most of the time I don't really think about things that much. So what if I don't know who my real family is? Hiccup and Astrid are the best parents ever. I've got a relatively good life by Viking standards here on Berk – heck, I even mastered most of the dragon training techniques as soon as I learnt how to walk. I just...get them, if that makes any sense. Especially Hiccup's Night Fury, Toothless, and his family, made up of the Star Backed Night Fury, Windwalker, and their four hatchlings: Starlight, Luna, Draco and the littlest, Pondskater (I called him that after watching him literally hop across the lake in the cove). Pondskater had been around for only a few years – he's the youngest at three. Starlight's coming up to thirteen, being the first-born of Toothless and Windwalker, and Luna is five years younger as was Draco – they're a rare case of dragon twins, having been born at the same time (Night Furies are the only dragons to give birth to live young).

Like I said, I've never known much about myself as a person but that's never really bothered me. Despite the occasional "You don't come from here – you're not a Hairy Hooligan...meh...meh...meh" from some of the others, I'm just a normal teenage Viking trying to survive. Like so many have said before me, we're Vikings – surviving is what we do for a living.

Quite literally.

/\

"...and that's how the Outcasts formed an alliance with the Hairy Hooligans," Fishlegs Ingerman told a group of younger Vikings who listened to his tale with awe all over their faces. I was passing by on my way back from the forge so I decided I might as well listen. Fishlegs was a good friend of Astrid and Hiccup's, being part of the elite Defenders of Berk team (or even the Dragon Masters, take your pick), and his stories of their adventures were pretty well told to say the least. "From that day forward, they were no longer a danger to our village, nor any other in this group of islands."

"I hope you remembered the part about Dad kicking his butt with Hookfang!" a burly teenage boy called as he strutted past. I rolled my eyes.

"Rather he almost chickened and only came in because Hiccup would have gotten most of the credit anyway!" I shouted back. I'd heard the story countless times from Astrid and Hiccup. Spitface Jorgenson was Snotlout Jorgenson's son – Hiccup's...second-nephew, I guess? What relation is the child of your cousin? – and was just like his dad in every way, shape and form. Heck, apparently he even had that arrogant walk to a tee if Astrid had anything to say about it. Lucky for me, he never hit a girl so I could get away with punching a hole in his ego every now and then.

"Hey, Em!"

"Race ya!"

"Last one to the Cove..."

"...cleans the Great Hall for a month!"

I raced off towards the forest at the sound of the 'Twins'. Well, they called themselves that but in reality they were two kids of different ages – they're cousins, in fact. One of them, Stonewall (we all called him Stone), was the son of Tuffnut Thorston and the other, Sticky (she insists on us calling her Sticks), is the daughter of his twin sister, Ruffnut and Fishlegs, and was a year older than him. I swear to Odin that the Thorston twins purposefully coordinated the names (Sticks and Stones...I ask you). How could two people that stupid be on the Defenders of Berk Team? Okay, I was being mean there - the Thorston Twins admittedly had their moments. I actually asked Hiccup about it once and even he wasn't able to come up with an answer – the only thing he said was that they were better than Snotlout at times, which saying something.

I dropped the axe I was carrying on a nearby cart and raced towards the forest. Glancing over my shoulder I could see Flint, Spitface and Ruffnut and Fishleg's other daughter, Scalene (actually not a bad name by our standards), hot on my heels so I decided to pick up the pace a bit. Not only was I fairly strong for my age I could also run pretty much as fast as I wanted for as long as I wanted – okay, so far my limit was twenty laps of the village at full speed but that was still a heck of a lot more than anyone else could do.

"I hope you guys are hungry 'cos you're about to eat my dust!" I called back, literally kicking up dirt into their faces as I darted through the trees. It wasn't too long before I overtook the 'twins' (I'm just gonna call them that for convenience) so I slowed my pace a little to let the others catch up – hey, I played fair, unlike _some_ I could mention. Despite my slowing down, I still reached the Cove before anyone else did.

"How can you run that fast?" Scalene panted. Despite being one of the larger teens of our group, she was quick on her feet and had remarkable agility to boot. Flint followed closely behind her with Spitface and the twins trailing along soon after.

"I like running," I shrugged.

"That's for sure – you never keep still," Flint smirked. I poked my tongue out at him. "Okay – who's up for Hand-to-Hand Combat?" he grinned. Everyone except Scalene snickered in approval although I was calmer about it – don't get me wrong, I'm a decent fighter I just don't like getting _into _fights. Still, the occasional Hand-to-Hand practise sessions we had could be fun plus it gave us an excuse to give to Snotlout, the head of Hand-to-Hand Combat Training, when he thought we weren't practising enough.

"I'm gonna stick out of this, thanks," Scalene mumbled. Her sister snickered.

"Come on, sis – people are gonna start wondering if we're actually related," she smirked.

"Yeah, just because you take after Mom, Sticks..." Scalene muttered. It was true – Sticks took after Ruffnut in every way just like Scalene took after her father. It really was difficult to believe they were sisters – it was easier to believe that Sticks and Stone were brother and sister, they were so close.

"Don't worry, Scale," I reassured. "You can be ref – someone will just have to fight twice," I shrugged, taking a sideways glance at Spitface. "Who's first?"

"Us," Flint smirked slyly. I glared at him sarcastically – I hated it when he did that. "Give me your best shot, Em!" My glare turned into a smirk.

"You're on!" I cried, charging forward. Flint easily dodged my first attack and came back with one of his own which I used to my advantage – he'd left himself open for a quick punch to the chest which I duly delivered. Thing is he tripped me up and almost pinned me to the ground – I just about managed to roll out of the way so his face became best friends with the floor. In the end we were so evenly matched we had to call a draw.

"Not bad," Flint smiled, brushing off his shoulder armour pads. "You're getting better."

"You're not too bad yourself," I shrugged. "Okay – Sticks, Stonewall, you guys next."

We spent the next ten or so minutes laughing at the twins' attempts at shoving each other in the water. It ended with Stonewall giving his cousin an uppercut which sent her flying into the pond. By the time their fight was over, Spitface had lost interest in practising so we cancelled the last fight. The afternoon was heading our way so everyone except me and Flint started heading back to the village. My best friend and I waved them off as we remained in the Cove – we had other plans.

"Shall we see if those calls Mom and Dad taught us work?" Flint asked, a gleeful glint sparkling in his eye. I nodded, a smile stretching across my face as I cupped my hands to either side of my mouth and howled. Another howl answered and minutes later my favourite dragon in the world came bounding over the side of the Cove and tackled me where I stood.

"Hey, Skates," I greeted as Pondskater began licking my face clean. "Good job answering the call," I added, retrieving a smoked salmon from my belt pouch and giving it to the guy. Pondskater may have only been three years old and small for a Night Fury but he was a wonderful dragon to ride and a great friend. Astrid and Hiccup had taught me and Flint the secrets of training dragons ever since we could walk, which was part of the reason why we were the best kids in the village at Dragon Training, but it had only been when Pondskater was born that I knew which dragon I wanted as my own.

Pondskater was a 100% Night Fury, not a Star Backed one like his mother and three siblings who all had silver markings decorating their hides and forked tails that sparked like lightning. Instead he was completely black like his father and had eyes that were a slightly darker green than his parents. It seemed that different eye colour was common in the family of Night Furies – Starlight had turquoise eyes whilst Luna and Draco were the only ones to share their parents' bright green eyes. I didn't know why – maybe dragon eyes changed colour as easily as cats' fur colour did.

"Your turn," I nodded to Flint who let out a howl of his own – the same type as mine seeing as we both had a Night Fury. Seconds later a jet black dragon with silver flecks dotting her hide – a little older than Pondskater – hopped into the Cove and gently nuzzled her rider's side.

"Hey, Starlight," Flint smiled softly. Starlight was the oldest of Toothless and Windwalker's family and had been born at Snoggletog about the same time as Luna and Draco, making her only a week older than Flint. The two were best friends, just like me and Flint, and they were easily each other's favourite siblings.

"Perfect!" I grinned, scratching Pondskater behind the ear. "It worked!"

"I guess all that practising paid off," Flint beamed, scratching Starlight fondly behind the ear. It was true – we'd spent at least a month driving Ma and Pa up the wall practising our dragon calls. "Afternoon flight?" he suggested, mounting his dragon. I nodded eagerly and leapt onto Pondskater before gently nudging him into the sky, closely followed by Flint and Starlight.

Flying with the dragons, especially in the relatively warm afternoon sun, was pretty much my favourite thing in the entire world. Up here, it didn't matter that I barely knew who I was or where I'd come from. It was just me, Pondskater and whoever else was with us. It was beautiful.

/\

We'd spend entire weeks like this. Practising Hand-to-Hand, working on our Dragon Training techniques, flying in the afternoons...that was pretty much the daily routine for the new Riders of Berk. Given Hiccup's way with words and sharp wit he was able to prevent wars with other tribes, including the Berserkers by some miracle (Hiccup and the Chief, Dagur, had never seen eye to eye), and as our parents had told us many times before, the alliance with the Outcasts meant we no longer faced trouble from them. We were experiencing an era of peace that blessed every aspect of village life.

That is, until the day we had our first visit from the old enemy in twelve years.

* * *

**AN: IT'S FINALLY HERE! Sorry it's taken so long to get this one going guys – this is a complete rewrite of my original _How to Twist a Dragon's Tail_ so writing has been slow going. Hopefully it's been worth the wait. Also, sorry that I've been really inactive lately - luckily, holidays have now started so I should have some more time on my hands for a bit.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Unexpected Guests**

It was actually after the team and I had set off for an afternoon flight. It was Freya's Day so we were all looking forward to a weekend off from Dragon and Combat Training – in fact, I think we had plans to go explore an island I remembered seeing south of Berk once. We were racing through the clouds when Spitface actually spotted something useful.

"Hey, guys! Take a look at this!" he called from his Monstrous Nightmare, Firelight. I didn't want to believe it at first – the guy was almost as irritating as his dad.

"If it's another Terrible Terror flock, cous, _nobody cares_!" Flint snapped.

"Actually, you really _should_ look at this," Scalene cut across from her Gronkle, Ignis. I peered over Pondskater's shoulder and squinted – I had better eyesight than most but even I had to squint to see something hundreds of feet below me. What I did see, however, was not something that I particularly _wanted_ to see.

"Why would the Chief station ships all the way out there?" Stonewall wondered from the left head of the Hideous Zippleback he shared with Sticks – Double Trouble. I know, unimaginative but we're talking Sticks and Stonewall here. I bit my lip – I didn't need one of Hiccup's telescopes to tell what ships those were, anchored by the outcrops about a mile off Berk's shores.

"Those aren't our ships," I replied worriedly. I'd recognise the crest on the sails – a Skrill. "Flint – we need to find Pa. Everyone else, get back to land – we've got a problem." I made a nose dive for home, followed by Flint whilst the others dispersed back to their houses. We landed outside the house as Astrid was grooming Stormfly.

"You two are back early," she noted as Stormfly greeted the two young Night Furies. All of Stormfly's offspring had left Berk to live their own lives (although there was one named Sunset who made occasional visits) so the Deadly Nadder often acted as an aunt to the Night Fury family. "I would've thought you guys would be flying until lunch..."

"We've got trouble, Ma," I interrupted. "We spotted some ships anchored about a mile offshore – where's Pa?"

"The man's still out chief-ing – he should be back in a couple of minutes," Astrid replied. "Why? What's going on?"

"Ask Em," Flint replied. I decided to spill the beans on what I'd seen.

"Berserker ships," I explained hurriedly. "About a mile offshore – we just spotted them."

"Those were _Berserker_ ships?" Flint spluttered. Astrid dropped what she was doing as the triplets raced out.

"Berserker? Where? I wanna kick some Berserker butt!" Eva asked delightedly before her mother gave her a sharp clap around the head. "Ow...!"

"No on is kicking any Berserker butt! Not if we want to stay in an alliance with them," Astrid snapped.

"But why now?" Nott asked timidly. "The treaty signing's not supposed to take place for another month and a half!"

"Beats me," Astrid grimaced. Glancing up to the skies, she spotted a familiar shadow pass by overhead. "Oh, right on time...Hiccup!" she called, cupping a hand to even at thirty he had little to no regard for personal appearances.

"What is it?" he asked quickly. "Because I've got some livestock issues the Jorgensons have been wanting me to sort out for a week and it's only gonna get worse the longer I leave it..."

"Oh, no – I don't want to keep you," Astrid cut across. "I was just wondering when you invited the Berserkers over for lunch." Hiccup's eyes widened for a split second before narrowing in both confusion and shock.

"What? What're you talking about?" he frowned, his dark eyebrows knitting together. Astrid indicated me so he turned to face me and Flint. "Ember, Flint – what's going on?"

"We saw Berserker ships about a mile offshore," I quickly explained.

"Well, _Em_ did," Flint corrected me quickly. Hiccup's eyes narrowed until they were slits of green.

"When?" he asked sternly.

"Literally just now," I replied. "But why would they be here, Pa?"

"I don't know," Hiccup huffed, switching his gaze to the docks. "We'll have to see what they want – I'm not having another war break out here."

"Yeah, because personally I'd like to actually live to see my next birthday, thanks," Lysa muttered next to her sisters in the same sarcastic tone her father sometimes used. I don't know why but she always made me smile when she did that.

"But what's the guarantee that their intentions will be peaceful?" Astrid pointed out, her face darkening slightly. "Dagur _knows_ the treaty isn't due for signing for another month and a half."

"That's true," Hiccup grimaced. As a chief, he knew he had to take things carefully and assume that every visit from a neighbouring tribe during the daytime was peaceful unless it was made clear that the situation was anything but. As such, he couldn't appear to be ready for an attack and that meant no dragon squads ready to fight. However, knowing the Berserkers and especially Dagur the Deranged as he did, Hiccup also knew that he could never be too careful around them and that he had to have a backup plan in case all attempts at negotiation failed. "We'll have the squads ready just in case things turn ugly. Also, get the kids under ten to Thor's Beach – if something happens they'll be safer there. Other than that, just act like you normally do during the signings." Astrid nodded – Hiccup knew that keeping the most vulnerable out of sight and in the safety of Thor's Beach was the best thing for them whenever the Berserkers were around, and having the backup dragon squads out of sight just in case would be the best option.

"Do you want us around, Dad?" Flint asked. I caught a hint of expectedness in his voice – Flint and Hiccup had always been close, ever since Flint was little and the man was always certain that Flint would have his back. As of late, they'd grown apart slightly but Flint told me that the only reason for this was that Hiccup was being a bit overprotective of him – other than that, they were still pretty much best pals.

"Yes, but keep your dragons out of sight unless I say otherwise," Hiccup nodded, a small and brief worried look crossing his face. I'm good at picking up changes in facial expressions but I don't think Flint did seeing as he grinned slightly in pride. "Astrid and I will keep Toothless and Stormfly with us but I want you two to hide the other Night Furies for now – just keep them close." We nodded and set off to find Windwalker and the rest of the Night Fury fledglings.

"Pondskater – think you can find them?" I asked my dragon quickly once we were in the air. Pondskater nodded and his dark green eyes narrowed in concentration – Hiccup told me that dragons can communicate telepathically and the stronger the bond between dragons, the further the distance of which this could occur so members of the same family could pretty much find each other from miles away. After a while, Pondskater indicated an area of the forest with his nose so I started flying in that direction.

"The Cove again?" Flint asked from behind me, recognising the path. I shrugged.

"Well, it was where Toothless first met your dad," I replied.

"_Our_ dad – you're as much his daughter as the triplets," Flint pointed out. I paused, still angry for feeling that his statement wasn't true – we both knew it wasn't.

"Either way, he kinda made his home there for a while so it would make sense for the others to stay there," I continued. "It's not as if we've got enough room back at the house even with the extension." Flint guessed that I had a point and so remained quiet. As suspected, Pondskater led us to the Cove where the other Night Furies were waiting. I couldn't help but be taken aback by the beauty of Windwalker, the mother, when I saw her. She moved with a grace that was so delicate it was hard to imagine her being a strong fighter when she wanted to be. She treated all of her children gently but firmly and I knew that if I were ever to find my real mother, I wanted her to be like Windwalker.

"Shouldn't we leave them here?" Flint wondered aloud. "I mean – we can easily call them with a Night Fury howl if worst comes to worst and it's a lot safer here than near the village for them."

"You're right," I sighed. "But we'll need to spread the word to the others that they need to keep their dragons hidden – not all of them can stay here, it's way too small."

"The Whispering Death tunnels should do the trick," Flint suggested. "I mean, they're close enough to the village that we can get to them if we need to."

"Good idea," I nodded. I turned to the Night Furies. "Listen, the Berserkers are paying a surprise visit so we need you guys to lay low here for a while, okay?" I explained. The twins grumbled before their mother hushed them and gazed at me intently – somehow I felt that whenever she was looking at me it was with a certain sadness or recognition although I had no clue why. "Be sure to come if I call, though. Alright?"

Windwalker cooed her agreement – while I couldn't speak Dragonese, I could grasp the very basics of it despite having never been taught it (although Hiccup seemed to understand it perfectly – he never told us how, except that it had been a bit painful) so I could tell that she was accepting what I had told them to do. Luna and Draco muttered something and I caught the words 'not fair' in there somewhere. Starlight shook herself next to Flint before speaking.

"**Just take care,**" she sighed. She said nothing else after that but instead went to groom herself. We headed back to the village where three more dragons had just landed – a pink and yellow Monstrous Nightmare, a blue and grey Gronkle and a red, orange and blue Deadly Nadder landed – Sunset, Stormfly's daughter. Riding them were a woman with raven hair and pale green eyes, a man with a chestnut beard (the rest of his hair being covered by a helmet) and eyes of grey blue and a girl about my age with the man's hair colour and the woman's eye colour although she resembled the woman almost perfectly. Hiccup and Astrid were already there greeting them.

"Heather, Magnus – I'm so glad you could come," Hiccup greeted. "But did you really have to bring Iona with you? I thought I told Toothless to say that..."

"You really think I'm going to leave my daughter alone?" Heather huffed jokingly. Iona, her daughter, dismounted Sunset almost smugly – I knew Iona well. She was a year older than me and Flint and was an honorary member of the new Riders of Berk (me and the rest of the teens on Berk), just like her mother had been for our parents when they were teenagers. We only saw maybe once a month, twice if we could help it, but we were still fast friends with her.

"What're the Berserkers doing here anyway?" Magnus, Heather's husband, asked, keeping a hand on his sword hilt.

"We don't know," Astrid replied. "That's why we called you in."

"So that they would see that you're ready to call in backup if needed?" the Monstrous Nightmare growled. I would have been shocked if it weren't for the fact that I knew that Newtsbreath, Heather's dragon, was the only dragon we knew of that could speak Norse, hence why the telepathic message from Toothless had been relayed to Heather and her family.

"Exactly," Hiccup confirmed. "I just need to make it clear that although we're treating this as a peaceful visit we're not taking too many chances."

"I take it your dragons are hiding," Iona asked when she saw me and Flint.

"Yeah," Flint nodded. I smirked slightly when I saw a hint of red creeping onto his cheeks – Flint had liked Iona for ages but the one thing he couldn't pluck up the courage to do was ask her out. I used to tease the Hel out of him for it but it earned me more than a broken ankle on a weekly basis so I decided to drop it when I was seven. "We were just about to go tell the others – mind helping us out?"

"Sure – you want me to get the Ingermans?" Iona agreed, indicating the other side of the village.

"Ok – I'll tackle the Jorgensons, then," Flint decided. "Em – you mind getting the Thorstons?"

"Fine," I sagged. Great – not only did I have to persuade Stonewall to get Double Trouble hidden, I also had to get Tuffnut to find his sister and get Barf-Belch ready.

"Although I swear you've just done this to give me the hardest job..."

"Hey, I need to deal with Spitface and Snotlout here," Flint argued. Yeah, but Snotlout was his dad's cousin.

"_And_ I've got Ruffnut and Sticks to contend with," Iona pointed out. But she also had Scalene and Fishlegs which I felt made her job the easiest as a whole. Even so, we began to head off to our respective households whilst Hiccup and Astrid started to head down to the docks with Heather and Magnus.

/\

Well, it took a while to actually get the Thorstons to listen but I got there. Once I was certain that Stonewall had gone to find Sticks to hide their Hideous Zippleback and Tuffnut had gone to find Hiccup, I raced back to the docks where Flint and Iona were waiting.

"I still think you gave me the toughest job," I mumbled grumpily. Flint hushed me and pointed down to the docks – the Berserker ship had just come in so I held my tongue. There was something about the Berserkers that never sat well with me, I didn't quite know why. Even so, I tried to avoid them whenever they came over so it wasn't as if they knew I existed. Okay, scrap that, Hiccup always told me to go into hiding whenever they came over – he'd never explained why but it had kind of become habit by now. "How're things so far?"

"Dad's getting ready to do the usual meet-and-greets by the look of things," Flint remarked, squinting through one of his dad's telescopes. "I should probably head down – you coming?"

"You know Pa says I need to stay out of the way when it comes to these guys," I hissed, indicating the Berserker ship. "Just give me a yell if anything happens." Flint nodded and began jogging down to catch up with Hiccup and Astrid on the docks. I watched after him until I saw the group by the ships start to head up towards the village so I made a dash for the nearest house to hide behind it.

I didn't realise it at the time but underneath the viewing platform Flint and I had been standing on, a mysterious figure lurked in the shadows, its gaze fixated upon the Berserkers below.

* * *

**AN: Suspense! Also, cue the Berserkers! Before anyone asks, yes, Dagur will be making an appearance and, oh, sweet Odin! He's a fun character to write. However, do not expect the next update for ****_any_**** of my current stories to be coming up any time soon. I've got tons of stuff going on at school over the next few weeks - I will try to post something during the mid-term break if I can but I can't promise anything. **


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I'M ALIVE! Guys, I am so sorry to have kept you waiting this long but the holidays have now started so I should be able to get back to writing. Also I saw HTTYD 2 yesterday and...let's just say you need to watch it if you haven't already. Anyway, here's the next chapter - enjoy!**

**Chapter Three: A New Bandit in Town**

Hiccup was less than happy about the arrival of the Berserkers. The tribes hadn't exactly been on the best of terms since Dagur the Deranged – the chief of the tribe – had found out about Berk training dragons but he and Hiccup had learnt to tolerate each other at best (although it had taken a lot of persuasion on Hiccup's part to reinstate the treaty between the tribes). Despite things getting more than bit messy back when they were teenagers, Dagur and Hiccup had come to an agreement shortly after Hiccup became chief which still meant there was the annual treaty signing but each tribe could get away with something so long as they left the other alone: for the Hooligan tribe, that meant the five dragons belonging to the Defenders of Berk team (Toothless, Stormfly, Hookfang, Meatlug and Barf-Belch) were allowed to accompany their riders during inter-tribe visits as long as any other dragons were kept out of sight; and for the Berserkers this mean that they had access to Berk's weapons stores (Hiccup, Flint, Ember and Gobber could keep up supplies well enough that the armoury was never empty) so long as they were never used against the Hooligan tribe or members of the leading family. To be honest, since Stoick and Alvin the Treacherous, the chief of the Outcasts, had come to agreements back when Hiccup had still been a teenager, the Berserkers were the only Vikings that could give Berk trouble.

"Presenting the Chief of the Berserker Tribe, Dagur the Deranged!" a Viking announced as the Berserker armada docked. Hiccup placed a hand to Toothless' nose to calm himself down as Dagur walked down the gangplank onto the dock.

"Hiccup, old friend!" Dagur greeted in his usual maniacal fashion. "Long time no see, my brother."

"And hello to you too, Dagur," Hiccup replied curtly. Dagur cast a hateful look at Toothless but made no move to attack the Night Fury – part of the treaty was that he left Berk's dragons alone. "I wasn't expecting your arrival here for at least another month."

"Oh, yeah – the treaty signing...pi-tuh!" Dagur spat on the ground at the mention of the event. "Well, let's say other business brings me here today."

"I gathered," Hiccup noted dryly. Flint bit his lip next to his father and Dagur's gaze drifted to him.

"I see the kid's getting bigger," he remarked coolly.

"I see the maniac's getting more observant," Flint retaliated when Hiccup hissed at him to watch his tongue. Flint shot a small glare at his father but shut up – he might have his mother's knack for spiteful comments but he trusted his father to know what he was doing. Thankfully, Dagur's attention moved to Astrid whose expression was as stony as the rock face behind her.

"Nice to see the leading family of Berk still has some backbone to it," the Berserker chief noted snidely. Hiccup growled softly next to Toothless but Astrid's expression didn't change.

"I take it you didn't come here for a friendly chit-chat, Dagur," she asked, resting her hand on the end of her axe and not even blinking next to Stormfly whose tail spines were extended in a threatening manner. Dagur's eyes narrowed.

"True – but let's not just stand around the docks," he suggested. "Take me to the Plaza!" he demanded.

"Remembering that we're on _my_ turf here, Dagur," Hiccup reminded him, keeping his anger under control. "We'll discuss this in the Great Hall." Dagur's face shifted into a glare but he made no attempt to argue. Hiccup began leading the Berserker leader up to the main village when he muttered to his son.

"Is Ember out the way?" he mumbled. Flint nodded and whispered in reply that his adopted sister was hiding as she usually did. "Good."

"Why does she have to stay away from Berserkers anyway?" Flint asked cautiously, out of Dagur's earshot. Hiccup frowned.

"You know as well as I do that she came here with instructions to be kept out of sight from the Berserkers," Hiccup reminded his son. He'd never told Ember this out of interest for her own happiness. "Personally, whoever her parents are, I want to respect their wishes." Flint nodded and jogged on ahead to check on Ember. In the meantime, Hiccup and Astrid led Dagur into the Great Hall where the impromptu meeting began.

"So, I take it everything's been going smoothly here on Berk," Dagur commented snidely, pacing up and down the hall swinging his sword around whilst Hiccup sat calmly around the large fireplace in the middle of the room.

"Swimmingly," he replied. "How about on the Berserker Isles?" Dagur spat on the ground. "And...I just had that cleaned..." Hiccup added out of earshot, although Astrid caught it and hid a snort through a cough.

"Anything but!" Dagur snapped aggressively. Hiccup kept his cool as the man advanced towards him threateningly. "That's why we came here."

"Why's why you came here?" Astrid asked coolly. Dagur glared at her.

"I'm guessing by your stupid reactions that you haven't heard of the bandit that's been circling the Archipelago lately?" he remarked. Hiccup frowned.

"Bandit? What bandit?" he asked. Dagur looked at him with a smug grin on his face.

"So it's true – they haven't come here," he noted. Hiccup stood up abruptly.

"Can you dodging the question and just answer it already?" he growled softly. Astrid smiled slightly – Hiccup really had toughened up over the last thirteen years. Dagur met Hiccup's glare.

"They've been pestering the tribes in the Far North for just under a decade now," he replied. "Only in the past month and a half things have been getting worse."

"Worse how?" Astrid cut in calmly.

"Well, let's just say that before they only paid a visit once every six months or something," Dagur answered quietly. "Keeping to the sheep and other livestock. _Now..._" he hissed, turning back to face Hiccup who discreetly held his breath – did the guy ever wash his mouth? "...they've been coming over a lot more frequently and every single day after they show up we get a bunch of pirates deciding they want to pay a visit." Hiccup's eyebrows shot upwards.

"Pirates?" he spluttered. At that point, the rest of the Defenders of Berk entered the hall. "About time you guys showed up."

"Heard something about pirates and a bandit – what've we got?" Tuffnut asked, punching his right fist against his left palm.

"It's about time – I've been waiting for some action," Ruffnut grinned next to him. Even at thirty they were still the adrenaline junkies they'd always been.

"But why are pirates suddenly showing up?" Fishlegs wondered, a little less timidly than he used to as a teenager. Like Hiccup, he'd grown in confidence over the past decade or so.

"Well, _I_ sure don't know," Dagur interrupted Hiccup before he could speak, rather dramatically. "But I'm betting you the best dragon head on my wall that it's that bandit they're after!"

"Yeah, skipping over the clear insult aimed at how we do things here..." Hiccup remarked before a fight could break out. "That might actually be the smartest thing you've come up with for a while," he remarked with a trace of a sarcastic grin showing on his face. "And you're saying this bandit's only been targeting the Far Northern tribes?"

"Duh, I just said that," Dagur replied. Snotlout cut in at this point.

"Wouldn't that be the Outcasts, Hysterics and Berserkers?" he pointed out. "Jeeze – someone must _really _have a vendetta against those guys," he added. Dagur glared at him, irritated that he couldn't get away with his usual bloodthirsty behaviour whilst on Hiccup's turf.

"So what was the point of you coming here? Because if it's to bring the bandit over here..." Hiccup grumbled. He wasn't at all surprised that the Outcasts, who had been in an alliance with the Hooligans for some time now, hadn't mentioned anything about this bandit but he wasn't overly pleased with Dagur dragging Berk into it either.

"Hey, all I'm asking for is a bit of 'support' in the matter," Dagur interrupted dryly.

"Which I'm guessing involves bringing the bandit here," Hiccup noted in an equally cynical fashion. Dagur's famous mood swings kicked in again as his face lit up.

"Ah, Hiccup – my friend!" he cheered. "You read me like a book!"

"Shame that this book seems to switch writing styles on a regular basis," Astrid smirked in an undertone to the others, who snorted softly. Thankfully Dagur didn't seem to notice as he threw an arm around Hiccup's shoulder – a little bit hard nowadays given that Hiccup's growth spurts from his late teen years meant that he was now standing head and shoulders above Dagur, quite literally.

"I figured that with more manpower _and_ your...dragons, which usually I would rather see on a silver platter if I'm perfectly honest..." Dagur reeled off. "...we would finally be able to end this bandit's pillaging career!"

"Something the Bog Burglars would likely scoop your brains out through your nose for but never mind," Hiccup shrugged truthfully. "Although that's not a bad idea."

"That's only assuming that..." Astrid began when...

"BANDIT!" someone yelled from outside – it sounded like Stoick the Vast, Hiccup's father and the old chief of Berk and the Hooligan Tribe. Hiccup groaned.

"And I take it that's our cue, Dagur?" he asked although Dagur had already hooted with excitement and darted outside yelling something like "This is why we should have talked about this in the Plaza!"

Hiccup mentioned for the others to follow him out, ready to see for himself who this bandit Dagur was going about was.

/\

I spotted Hiccup take Dagur and the Berserkers into the Great Hall so I figured that I had maybe half an hour to kill a bit of time around the village. I slipped out of my hiding spot and began walking around town when I bumped into Flint.

"Ember!" he called, jogging over when he saw me. "What're you doing out here?"

"Flint, they're in the Great Hall so unless the Berserkers have infrared vision like the Whispering Death I can wander about whilst they're in there," I pointed out dryly. "Besides, it's not like there's any reason I should be hiding – why does Pa _always_ insist on this?"

"Well..." Flint began but he shut his mouth quickly. "Never mind. He said something about he doesn't want you to get into trouble with those guys." I raised an eyebrow at his answer.

"And yet he lets _you_ walk around the village in plain sight?" I noted irritably. I paused for a second. "Is it something to do with the fact that I'm not really his daughter?" Flint was taken aback.

"Uh...um...well..." he stammered. I smiled sadly and tilted my head slightly, crossing my arms. "Yeah, it was something like that," Flint sighed, breaking eye contact. I nodded – even though it wasn't exactly a massive secret that I wasn't native to Berk, Hiccup for some reason still tried to convince me that I was his daughter. Come on, really? Even _Clueless_ from the Meathead tribe was smarter than that and I'm pretty sure that he was missing more of his brain than Bucket!

"Not that I mind him being protective," I shrugged. "He just overdoes it."

"Tell me about it," Flint huffed sarcastically. Iona joined us at that point.

"Hey," she greeted. "Mom and the others just headed in. I overheard a little bit before they shut the door."

"Let me guess? Complaint?" Flint raised an eyebrow cynically.

"Apparently there's a bandit that's been on the loose for the past decade," Iona grinned excitedly. "The only reason why we've never heard of them is because they've only been targeting the Far Northern tribes."

"Wow – sucks to be them," I snorted despite myself.

"_And_ apparently pirates are involved," Iona added in an undertone. It just so happened that Sticks and Stone were eavesdropping from the roof.

"Pirates?" they cried out in unison. I glared up at them and elbowed the beam they were resting on so hard it knocked them off-balance.

"OW!" Stone winced. Sticks was right back up on her feet.

"When do we get to kick their ass?" she snickered gleefully.

"No one said anything about kicking pirate butt! Those guys are trouble!" I protested. Whilst on a flight with Pondskater and Starlight, Flint and I had run into some trouble with a group of pirates a while back. with the dragons they'd been no match but if the Night Furies hadn't been there...I honestly shuddered to think about it. Scalene and Spitface showed up round the corner.

"Is this something to do with the Berserkers showing up?" Scalene asked timidly.

"I thought those guys weren't due in for another month," Spitface frowned.

"They weren't," Flint explained. "Bandit and pirate problems if Iona's got anything to say about it." Iona quickly filled the rest of the gang in on the few details she'd heard.

"But it's weird they would come here," she bit her lip. "I mean, it's just not the Berserkers to suddenly come here and ask for Hiccup's help. That's more like some Artair 'the Faithful' Godrikson would do." I frowned – Iona had a point. Normally it would be the Meatheads, the tribe we had the closest alliance to (something about Hiccup's sister marrying the chief or something – I've never seen her so I have a secret tendency to doubt the story) that would come to ask for help. The Berserkers, on the other hand, were such an independent tribe that they would refuse any _offers_ of help, let alone ask for it.

"Either way, it's hardly our problem that they've got someone picking on them," Sticks shrugged. Stone nodded in agreement next to her.

"For once, you actually have a point, Sticks..." Flint smirked when a shout came from the Plaza.

"BANDIT!" someone yelled – it sounded like Grandpa Stoick.

Great. As if today could get any more exciting.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Do you know me?**

"Let's get 'em!" Stone cackled, running off in the direction of the Plaza where the warning had sounded. None of us argued (although Scalene grumbled a bit) and we took off after him – there was no way we were going to let a bandit get away with anything on our home turf.

"Flint! What do you suggest we do?" Iona panted. "We can't bring our dragons out whilst the Berserkers are here!"

"I was getting to that!" Flint yelled back as we rounded the corner into the Plaza. We could see what appeared to be a person leaping from roof to roof avoiding other villagers. I couldn't quite make out their appearance but it looked as if they had a mask or at least some face-covering-hood-thing on. "Right. Sticks, Stone – you guys take the forest side. Spitface, Scalene and Iona – you guys cover the way to the Arena. Em – you and I will make sure they don't get to the port. We need to keep them in the Plaza."

"Got it!" we chorused. Flint had inherited his father's tactician skills so we always turned to him when it came to strategies. Being on his team during the Thawfest Team games was a massive advantage. Every one dashed off in their given directions but I quickly ducked behind a barrel when I saw the Berserkers and the Defenders of Berk coming up from the Great Hall. Brilliant – they were most likely after the bandit as well. I hissed the info to Flint who acknowledged it as we kept one eye on the bandit at all times. Grabbing a dagger each from the forge, we ducked behind the counter as we watched the action unfold, ready to cut in if we needed to.

/\

Hiccup caught a fleeting glimpse of the bandit Dagur had told him about as they entered the Plaza. The person couldn't have been much taller or older than himself and they had a slim physique that was suitable for quick and agile movements. From the distance he was from the bandit, Hiccup couldn't make out any facial features due to the person's mask but he managed to catch a brief sight of a dagger – this person was armed and dangerous.

"That's them, I take it?" he muttered to Dagur who was grinning manically.

"Oh, that's them alright!" the Berserker chief replied. "And I cannot wait to have their head on a platter..."

"_Not_ here!" Astrid hissed sharply. "Remember you're on _our_ turf, Dagur – our village, our rules."

"What do you suggest, Hiccup?" Heather asked. Hiccup glanced back at the Plaza to see that the bandit had come to a stop on the top of the Stable Roof – they appeared to be glaring at Dagur.

"Surround the Plaza," he ordered. "Block off their escape routes – if they start causing trouble we'll bring in the Defenders Dragons." The others nodded and darted off to surround the bandit who surprisingly jumped off the roof and landed almost gracefully on their feet, still glaring in Hiccup and Dagur's direction. Dagur's look changed from a stark-crazy grin to a dark scowl.

"Well, well, well," he growled, drawing his sword. "You finally decide to come out of the shadows, huh?"

The bandit said nothing as Dagur and Hiccup walked over. Hiccup was trying to get a better idea of their features but the mask and the hood of a small light brown leather cape they were wearing kept their face in shadows. One thing Hiccup did catch a glimpse of was a plait hanging off the right side of their head – it resembled Astrid's marriage plaits. The two chiefs stopped when they were about ten feet from the bandit – the person had raised their dagger in front of them and stood upright. Now that he was closer, Hiccup could make a few assumptions based on the bandit's appearance. The person was slim with a slight figure – it was definitely a woman under that hood – wearing a short light green tunic with long sleeves that were tucked under three-quarter length fingerless gloves made from pale leather. The woman also wore a light brown belt which held up a torn chainmail over-shirt, dark green leggings and black leather boots.

"It's about time," Dagur snarled. "I hear there's a rather nice reward for whoever brings the...OOF!" he exclaimed as the woman suddenly rammed herself into his chest. Hiccup leapt in with a counter of his own, trying to bring the hilt of his sword onto the nape of the woman's neck but she moved too quickly and he was sent flying.

"Astrid!" Hiccup yelled and his wife readily charged, somersaulting over a sweep kick from the bandit but missing herself when it came to a counter. Astrid let out a high-pitched howl and Stormfly dived, setting off a torrent of spikes to distract the bandit but to no avail – the woman dodged them with the agility of a cat. Hiccup decided to change tactics. "Defenders! Mount up!"

/\

I was half in awe at how fast the bandit moved. Flint clearly was as well – his jaw was practically on the counter-top – and understandably so. We'd never seen a person move that quickly before – heck, even I couldn't run that fast! We saw the Defenders of Berk along with Heather and Magnus mounting their dragons whilst the Berserkers began pursuing the bandit on foot – I glanced at Flint.

"Should we move in?" I smirked. He gave a matching face back.

"Let's show those maniacs how it's done," he grinned. "Let's go!"

We jumped over the counter of the forge and began pelting it towards the docks where the bandit was headed. I spotted a cart of barrels nearby and cut the rope, causing a blockage that actually caused the bandit to stumble a bit. Nonetheless, they still got through.

"Dammit..." I muttered, whistling for the others who showed up promptly about fifteen seconds later. "Wow – you guys are getting faster."

"Never mind speed – where're they headed?" Scalene panted.

"Head for the docks and lead them back up towards the village," Flint instructed. "Dad's got the Defenders Dragons out so we should be able to keep the bandit in one place."

"Permission to shoot first and ask questions later!" Sticks grinned.

"Permission to skip the questions!" Stone interrupted. I facepalmed.

"No one's shooting anything – we're just trying to capture this guy," I explained. "Now get moving!"

We hightailed it to the docks, barely cutting off the bandit in their path as they tried to hide in one of the boats. They tried to dive off the dock when Spitface and Iona cornered them but Flint did some fancy manoeuvre using a rope on the mast of a nearby ship to knock them back onto land. They landed at my feet and I jumped onto their back, trying to hold them onto the floor when I was thrown off myself as if I weighed next to nothing – dammit, this person was strong! I rolled onto the dock and scrambled to my feet only to see the bandit staring back at me – I was now able to take in their appearance: female; probably not much older than Hiccup; clothes suitable for extended fast travel.

But something caught me off guard – not the face, the hood was still up. But barely visible around the woman's neck was a necklace...

My head suddenly panged and all sorts of images flashed through my vision even though my eyes were closed from the unexpected migraine. I could see flashes of fire and hear clangs of metal on metal. Someone...a baby...was crying. A woman was running through what appeared to be a battle field, pursued by...

I saw the Berserkers' crest and screamed, snapping my eyes open to see that Flint was bent protectively over me whilst the bandit had turned her focus to the oncoming Berserkers and Hooligans. I noticed that Hiccup had brought in the Defenders Dragons – Toothless, Stormfly, Meatlug, Hookfang, Barf-Belch and Newtsbreath – and could have sworn I saw the bandit tense when she saw them. In addition, as soon as the dragons laid eyes on her, they stopped mid-flight.

/\

"Toothless!" Hiccup protested as Toothless suddenly froze in midair. "Buddy, what gives?"

"Stormfly! What're you doing?" Astrid snapped. Similar comments were coming from all of the Defenders on their dragons.

"**I'm not risking hurting them!**" Toothless retorted to Hiccup as he tried to force him forward again. "**Quit trying!**"

"Honestly, Bud! What is your problem?!" Hiccup huffed before he spotted Flint standing behind the bandit – okay, he could let his dragon off for this one. Dagur on the ground smirked smugly up at him.

"Having trouble with your lizards, Hiccup?" he scoffed. "Maybe you should've stuck with the old ways."

"Hey, keep your trap shut," Snotlout snapped from Hookfang. Although he'd once admired Dagur as a teenager, nowadays, he'd lost all respect for the guy. Hiccup drew his attention away from the argument and back towards the bandit who seemed to have landed her gaze on him and Toothless and he suddenly froze himself. The hood was still up so seeing the woman's face was still out of the question but Hiccup's sharp eyes had caught sight of a glint of light coming from the woman's neck – a plain necklace that he could have sworn had flashed in the sunlight – there was a gem of some kind inlaid in a pendant. Then there was also the dagger that she had sheathed in her belt – Hiccup could have sworn he recognised the design of the hilt from somewhere...but where?

"What?" Hiccup gasped sharply. All kinds of thoughts ran through his mind, but then again this person _was _a bandit so anything was possible. It unnerved him greatly though and distracted him long enough for Dagur to step forward.

"Personally I don't want this to go the easy way," Dagur snickered at the woman, who growled softly at him, still not saying a word. Hiccup signalled for the Defenders to get back onto the ground where he pushed forward to get next to Dagur who proceeded to make a face at him. "But considering I'm on _this guy's_ turf..." he spat. "...I'll be fine with you coming quietly for now..." he paused and glanced over the woman's shoulder. Hiccup inhaled sharply, as did Astrid next to him. On her knees, holding her head as if she'd suffered a migraine or something and shielded by Flint, was Ember.

/\

I froze momentarily as Dagur's steely gaze fell on me. The Berserker crest flashed in front of my eyes again and my head flared up but I ignored the pain – it was dulled by something else. I didn't know why, but I felt intense hatred towards Dagur. His eyes narrowed, as did mine, and a menacing grin spread onto his face.

"Alright, men – take the lady," he ordered. Some of the Berserkers moved forward and pinned the bandit down before she had a chance to contemplate what was happening. I could have sworn I saw the dragons flinch and for some reason, I did too – why was that? Dagur wasn't finished as he indicated his sword in my direction. "And the little one too."

My eyes widened with shock as a group of three Berserkers suddenly charged in my direction. This time, all Hel broke loose.

"No!" Hiccup yelled, whistling for Toothless who promptly smashed into the Berserkers' flanks, sending them tumbling. "EMBER, RUN!" Hiccup yelled.

I didn't need telling twice. I shot to my feet and broke through the chaos whilst Flint and the rest of the gang covered my but I found myself cornered before I even reached the village. I glanced over my shoulder to see the bandit fight her way out of the iron grip of her captives as if there was no more effort to it than slicing a fish's head off. I almost didn't see what happened next as the Berserker closest to me tried to jump me but the bandit smashed into his stomach, sending him reeling before she grabbed my wrist and began half dragging me in the direction of the forest.

"Run!" she hissed. There was a raspy tone to her voice, as if it hadn't been used in a long time, but it had an accent that was entirely different to Astrid and Hiccup's. I had little time to contemplate things as we vanished into the shadows of the Wild Zone before I could count to ten, with the Berserkers hot on our heels whilst Hiccup and the other Defenders tried to end the chase.

"What's going on?" I panted, more out of shock than anything else although for once my side was starting to hurt – I'd never gone this fast in my life on foot!

"Save it for later – just keep running!" my mystery companion ordered before jumping off a ledge into a familiar place – the Cove. Windwalker and the Night Fury fledglings, including Pondskater and Starlight, jumped and hissed at the sudden intrusion but Windwalker stopped after a few seconds and her eyes narrowed in confusion. The bandit looked into the Star-Backed Night Fury's eyes for a moment and for a second I thought I saw her pause in her movements. To my surprise, the Night Furies made no further move to inspect the situation although they all looked confused.

"What...what was that all about?" I stammered. I could still hear the angry shouts of Berserkers mixing with those of Hooligans coming through the trees as the bandit turned to face me.

"I'd hoped this wouldn't happen..." she murmured, more to herself than to me but it got me thinking. Did this woman know me? If so then how? "Listen, just stay out of their sights – as long as you remain here on Berk, Hiccup won't let them touch you."

"What do you mean? What do they want with me?" I half cried, keeping my voice down in hopes of not drawing attention. The bandit stayed as cool as anything.

"Promise me you'll stay out of trouble," she almost pleaded with me, her voice not giving away any hint of emotion. I was stunned silent and nodded, slightly confused. "Good. Stay here – I'll draw them off." With that, she leapt up the stone wall of the Cove with the grace of a dragon before vanishing into the trees whilst I was left with the Night Fury family.

/\

"Dagur!" Hiccup bellowed, eventually stopping the Berserker chief in his tracks by holding his sword up to the man's neck. The entire Berserker tribe froze in silence – Hiccup never used this manoeuvre unless he was _really _ticked off and knowing Hiccup's skill with a sword, you _knew_ you were in trouble if he held a blade to your neck. "Have you officially lost whatever sanity you have left?!" the Hooligan chief roared, his forest green eyes flashing in anger. Dagur huffed with weak laughter.

"Why? What's it to you?" he scoffed. Hiccup pressed him further. "What?"

"Can you _explain_ the reason why you went after my daughter?" Hiccup hissed. Astrid was right behind him, holding her double-bladed axe in Dagur's direction. The Berserker chief began to crack.

"Look, the pirates were offering a nice reward if we captured a girl with black hair and yellow eyes and handed her over to 'em," he finally explained. "That shrimp just happened to fit the description..."

"Whatever happened to leaving our villagers alone?" Astrid growled. "Or have you forgotten the laws of hurting a member of the chief's family intentionally?" Dagur scowled at her.

"Course not," he sneered. "But you can hardly call her 'part of your family'. She didn't look anything like you...OWW!" he exclaimed as Hiccup's fist made contact with his nose.

"Get out," Hiccup muttered angrily. When the Berserkers did nothing, he lost his temper. "I said GET OUT!" he roared. At that, the Berserkers began hightailing it back out of the forest towards the docks but Dagur was still in shock at Hiccup actually hitting him.

"Jeeze, man..." he mumbled. Hiccup wasn't finished with him.

"And a word of warning," the Hooligan chief hissed. "If you ever lay so much as a finger on Ember again, you'll have me to answer to. You are not to touch her as long as she is on this island," he warned.

"Hmph," Dagur huffed, rubbing his nose. "Fine. I'll be sure to remember that..._Brother._" With that, he stormed through the trees whilst Hiccup sent the rest of the Defenders to make sure he got back to the docks. Astrid and Flint remained with him.

"Nice punch," Astrid remarked awkwardly after a few seconds of silence. Hiccup was still too angry to answer.

"Dad..." Flint mumbled uncertainly. Hiccup responded by smiling weakly and placing a hand on his son's shoulder. "Why would they be after Ember?"

"I don't know, Flint," Hiccup sighed. Astrid bit her lip.

"I'm guessing we just found out the reason her parents, whoever they were, wanted her to stay out of the Berserkers' sight," she deduced. Hiccup nodded in agreement.

"I'll talk to Dad about this," he decided. "Flint, go find your sister, would you?" he asked, starting the trek through the trees. "And also give the dragons to all-clear. We've had enough madness for one day," he added tiredly. Astrid ruffled her son's hair fondly before following her husband through the forest back to the village, leaving Flint standing by himself for a while.

"Sure," he sighed, almost sadly. He hated seeing his dad like this. "I'll...see you back at the house."

He headed towards the Cove where the Night Fury family would be waiting – knowing Ember she would have also gone there to hide.

/\

"Em?"

I glanced up from scratching Pondskater behind the ear and watching Draco and Luna play-fighting to see Flint standing at the entrance to the Cove. I nodded a brief greeting as he walked over.

"Berserkers have gone," he explained. "Dad's just given the all clear for the dragons." I sighed with relief.

"Good," I whispered, not turning around or getting up. Pondskater nuzzled me gently and Flint sat down next to me as Starlight walked over and nudged her rider gently.

"You alright?" he asked, patting Starlight almost absent-mindedly. I sighed.

"I can't help but feel like that woman knew me," I explained softly. Flint frowned – he knew I was talking about the bandit. "Why would she risk her own skin to protect me like that?"

"Beats me," Flint shrugged. "I've never seen anyone go to those lengths to protect a stranger before..." To change the subject, Flint nodded at Windwalker, Luna and Draco as they finally stretched their wings and shot into the evening sky. Pondskater helped me to my feet and indicated for me to get onto his back – I obliged whilst Flint clambered onto Starlight's back as we prepared to let the other dragons know that they could come out of hiding once again.

All the time we were flying my mind was elsewhere. Who was that woman? What connection, if any, did she have to me? What did she know about my past?

Before, my past had been a niggling question in the back of my mind that I could easily block out. Now it had forced its way forward and wasn't going to be so easily silenced.

* * *

**AN: Okay, next chapter and the bandit's been introduced. I'm hopefully going to be able to update things a lot more regularly during the holidays so keep an eye out.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: It's not like it was a Secret**

Grandpa Stoick was spending dinner round ours that night so things were slightly more crowded in the Haddock household than normal. The triplets wouldn't stop arguing over whether their meals were equal portions or if Lysa had more than Nott who had more that Eva; Flint wouldn't stop yelling at them to shut up; Astrid wouldn't stop yelling at Flint to not yell at the table; Hiccup wouldn't stop trying to keep the triplets under control; Stoick wouldn't stop laughing; and I wouldn't...actually I wasn't do anything except playing with my food. No doubt Astrid would start going off at me for that in five seconds (which she did – I ignored her).

Once things finally got settled everything fell silent around the dinner table until Grandpa Stoick spoke up.

"I take it you sorted that bandit problem then, son," he noted. Hiccup huffed and face-planted on the table, narrowing avoiding the stew Astrid had so carefully made. Emphasis on the 'carefully'.

"Barely..." he mumbled before Astrid picked up a piece of parchment nearby.

"Hiccup, do you _really_ have to leave this on the table?" she huffed, waving it in Pa's face. It was the monthly chief report – every chief in the Archipelago got one. Hiccup usually skim-read them once before using them as fire fodder.

"Sorry..." he groaned, taking it from his wife before scrunching it up and tossing it over his shoulder where our resident Terrible Terror, Camicaze (seriously, I lose count of how many dragons we have in this family alone), proceeded to blast it with a pinpoint accurate shot of fire, incinerating it. "Gods...first the domestic disputes with the Stefersons, then Dagur of all people shows up then..." he trailed off, holding his head in his hands. Astrid patted his shoulder gently and Flint grimaced, hiding most of his face behind his mug.

"All part of the job, son," Stoick remarked through a mouthful of stew (Hiccup mumbled something that sounded like a sarcastic "Thanks, Dad - big help"). Lysa smirked at him.

"Gramps, you got stew in your beard again," she pointed out. Stoick flushed under his greying mane and hastily wiped his mouth.

"Do you even feed yourself properly?" Eva snickered. "You eat anything Mom makes!"

"Eva..." Astrid muttered in a warning tone although I could have sworn I saw Hiccup snort into his mead in agreement – I saw his point, given that cooking was really a hit-or-miss thing with Astrid. Flint wasn't much better so Hiccup and I usually took care of the cooking.

"Now, now, lass – that's no way to talk about your mother's cooking," Stoick chuckled good-naturedly.

"You just say that because she's your daughter-in-law," Nott grinned shyly, trying to join in the conversation. Stoick was sitting right next to her and ruffled her hair happily – I don't think anyone else on the village was happier to have grandkids than Stoick the Vast.

"Although you may want to watch how much you go through," Flint smirked. His relationship was almost as good with his grandfather as with his dad, probably because Stoick spoiled him rotten. "Otherwise we'll have to start calling you 'Stoick the Vast_er_'!" he joked. Stoick flushed bright red again and he glared mockingly at his son across the table.

"Isn't that the one you pulled one me when you were five?" he growled jokingly. Hiccup went crimson himself.

"I taught 'em nothing! I swear to Thor!" he protested, holding his hands up. "And you should hear the ones Flint uses on me!"

"Oh, you mean like 'Peg Leg'?" Flint snickered good-naturedly. Hiccup made a face to his son across the table and Flint poked his tongue out in return – I smiled slightly. I knew Flint didn't like it when Hiccup (or anyone for that matter) got protective of him, which was happening quite a lot recently, but it was nice to see them act like this every now and then. Hiccup's attention suddenly focused on me – I guess I was acting a bit too out-of-character for it not to be noticed.

"You okay there, Ember? You seem pretty quiet," he noted gently.

"Not surprising after the day she's had," Stoick remarked sadly. I huffed in response and let another spoonful of stew drop back into the bowl.

"You've barely touched your food," Astrid frowned. "You sure you're alright?"

"I'm not that hungry, Ma," I replied grumpily. Something had been nagging in the back of my mind – Hiccup had flinched when the Berserkers had taken the bandit shortly before she freed herself to rescue me and Flint had already confirmed that his dad knew something about why I had been told to hide when the Berserkers came over in the past. Did he know that woman as well? If so, had he been hiding something about my past this whole time without even telling me?

"You've been moping ever since we got back," Flint pointed out. I shot him a glare – he knew full well why I was miserable.

"Flint..." Hiccup growled warningly. "That's no way to talk to your sister."

"Can we skip the whole 'a chief minds his manners' thing, _please_?" Flint groaned, pouting childishly and rolling his eyes. Hiccup raised an eyebrow at his son cynically - the look was returned.

"Seriously, though, Em..." Hiccup continued.

"I'm going up," I huffed, pushing my plate away and making to go upstairs to bed.

"Oh, come on, lass!" Stoick called after me whilst everyone else was stunned silent. Hiccup went for a drink and Astrid went to get some more stew for Lysa as Stoick continued talking. "We don't get family meals like this very often. Can't you at least...?" I couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Oh, why does that even matter?!" I snapped, whipping my head around to glare at them all. "I'm adopted!"

The bomb dropped. Hiccup did a spit take, choking on his drink and Astrid dropped Lysa's plate, sending it clattering to the floor.

"WHAT?!" Astrid shrieked.

"Who...*cough*...who told you?!" Hiccup spluttered. Wow – great job on denying it, Chief. Flint stepped in at that moment...thank Thor.

"Please, Dad – it's not like it's a massive secret," he pointed out. "The entire village knows." Hiccup recovered from his coughing fit and Astrid had managed to save most of the plate as their faces turned down.

"How...how long have you known?" Astrid murmured softly with her back to me, her face lit up by the glow of the fire. I paused.

"Since I was five," I replied. Hiccup glanced up at me in shock but I just made a face. "Come on, Pa – do I look a_thing_ like you or Ma?" I pointed out, tugging at my black-auburn streaked hair and indicating my bright yellow-green eyes.

"The girl's got a point, son," Stoick noted with a grimace. Hiccup sighed. "Ember's a smart girl. I'm not surprised she's known for ages."

"I know..." Hiccup mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Come now – the least you owe her now is an explanation," Stoick urged. I nodded in agreement – after twelve years of being the equivalent of the outsider on Berk, I wanted answers. Hiccup huffed and sat upright.

"Girls," he said to the triplets. "You three head upstairs – Mom and I need to talk to Em."

"But what about Flint?" Eva moaned.

"He's older, now scat," Astrid pushed, ushering the moaning triplets upstairs where Stoick offered to get them ready for bed. She came back downstairs and mentioned for me to sit down – I decided to steal Grandpa's chair. Hiccup removed his head from his hands and looked me in the eye.

"What do you want to know?" he asked carefully. I stared at my hands in my lap in thought – now that I thought about it, I wasn't sure what I wanted to know. Just...something.

"It might be a bit obvious..." I mumbled. "But how did I get to Berk?" I asked. "Where did I come from?" Hiccup paused for a bit.

"I hate to say it but...Astrid and I really don't know much more than you do," he admitted sadly. "We don't know who your real parents are and why they sent you here...you just...did."

"But how did I get here?" I pushed, desperate for at least some form of answer. Flint remained at his place at the table, listening as much as I was. "There has to be something you know!" I pleaded. Astrid bit her cheek before digging something out from behind a stack of crates.

"Actually..." her muffled voice came before she stood upright again. "You came here in this." She placed a long basket on the table. It was lined with a sheepskin shawl with what looked like extremely tattered embroidery inside – it was just threads now. There was also an extra woollen blanket that looked singed and stained with what appeared to be salt. I stood up and walked over, my eyes widening in amazement as I examined the basket and its contents. Hiccup's eyes glazed over in remembrance.

"It was a year after the Battle of the Burning Moon," he explained sadly, also not taking his eyes off the basket. Both Flint and I winced – the Battle of the Burning Moon had been the most ferocious battle ever in the ongoing war between the Meatheads, Berserkers and Hooligans. It had been because of that war that the treaty between the Hooligans and the Berserkers had been broken before being shakily remade in a last-ditch attempt to maintain peace – I was amazed the Berserkers hadn't been banished, to be honest, although I had heard some Outcasts had broken off from their tribe during the war and had been sent into even deeper exile to become pirates.

The Hooligans had aided the Meatheads and helped them emerge victorious but casualties had been high, especially on our side – many were slaughtered in battle or assassinated by the Berserkers and pirates during the night. The Battle of the Burning Moon, so named because the light of the fires blazing that night had turned the moon itself red, had been the last, decisive battle which had resulted in one of the greatest losses of all – the loss of Artair's wife and Hiccup's older sister, Valkyra Godrikson (née Horrendous Haddock II and also known as Valkyra the Ablaze). Hiccup had been distraught upon hearing the news and he hated talking about it. He'd been so close to his sister and apparently he'd been separated from her on multiple occasions in the past so it was almost a miracle that he pulled through this one.

"We were still recovering from the losses – the village was under constant reconstruction," Astrid continued, sitting down next to her husband.

"One day Trader Johan came in like he normally did," Hiccup added. "He pulled me over and said he had a 'special delivery' for me. He told me that it wasn't something to trade for and that it was something incredibly precious. He brought me down to the cargo bay of the boat where I heard crying. There, half hidden under the clothes Johan bad brought from the South, was a baby girl with black hair and yellow eyes."

My heart skipped a beat. I'd been brought to Berk on Trader Johan's ship? I swear that guy had been around forever but really?

"Someone had left a note with you," Astrid explained, digging said note out from the folds of the shawl in the basket. "We've never figured out who wrote it, but we think it was your mother," she added, handing it to me. I unfolded the parchment carefully to see a bunch of hastily scrawled runes in what appeared to be disguised handwriting. Clearly whoever had written it didn't want to be found out. I read it none the less.

_This is Ember. Please take her to Berk and give her to the care of the chief. Her birthday is the tenth day of the second month of summer – right now she is a year old._

_To the Chief of the Hooligan Tribe: keep her out of sight of Berserkers and tell no one she's with you. Take care of her, please? It's the least I can ask of you._

I unwillingly felt tears stinging my eyes – my mother...my real mother...had written this? Why would she send me to Berk? Why had she expressively asked me to be put in Hiccup's care?

"You never found the writer?" Flint reaffirmed. Hiccup nodded.

"We waited for someone to come and find you again," he explained to me, even though I was barely listening. "But days turned into weeks which turned into months and those turned into years. No one ever showed."

"So we took you in as our own," Astrid smiled gently. "You and Flint played together all the time. Flint finally had the sister he wanted," she joked. Flint flushed next to me but I sniffed with laughter slightly – that made me feel a bit better.

"Neither your mother or your father ever showed themselves," Hiccup sighed sadly. "By the time you'd turned three, we'd pretty much forgotten that you weren't ours by blood – at that time we called you our daughter."

A silence followed.

"And...well...that's it," Hiccup shrugged worriedly. "The end."

"What?" I blinked. "But there has to be more!"

"Em's right, Dad – you can't just leave it with that," Flint argued.

"Well, there was the time you guys ticked Cami off..." Hiccup mumbled. "I spent a week fixing the roof..."

"Pa..." I moaned. He looked at me sadly.

"Like I said, Em – we don't know much more than you do," he sighed. "If we did, we'd tell you now. I guess we should have told you a long time ago, though, huh?"

"It's okay, Pa," I reassured, still staring at the note in my hand. "It's just...there are so many questions I want to ask!" I huffed, more to myself than to the Haddocks. "Like...why did my mother send me here? Why specifically to you?" I paused myself before stating the one question that I'd never been able to ignore. "And who was she?" I finished. Hiccup took my hand from across the table.

"Hey, if you want to, we can find out," he suggested. I shook my head.

"It's okay," I sighed. "I just wish that I knew." I saw Astrid bit her lip out of the corner of my eye as she got up again. This time she returned with a small mahogany box with a simple clasp. There was no crest on it but engraved in the lid were the words "_For Ember, when you don't know where to go._" "What's this?"

"Trader Johan didn't just bring you to us," Astrid replied, laying the box down in front of me. "I guess now's the time to give it to you." I smiled in thanks before expressing my wish to go to bed. Astrid came over and kissed both me and Flint ("Mom!" Flint moaned) on the forehead whilst Hiccup walked over and hugged us both. Flint dashed upstairs after a quick 'Night!' but I hung back, clutching the basket and my box to my chest.

"Pa..." I began.

"Know that no matter what, you're still a part of this family," Hiccup smiled, kneeling down so that he was at my eye level. "You're still my daughter." I smiled sleepily back and hugged him again before heading up to bed. Once I was huddled under the covers, I moved my bedside candle closer to me and took the box carefully before opened it. Inside was a letter, sealed with emerald-green wax, and a hair pin, made of dark silver in swirling patterns and decorated with emeralds. I gently broke the wax seal and opened the letter, tears now freely falling down my cheeks as I began to read.

_Ember_

_Please know that all I wanted was the best for you. I don't know why they were after you, but they were also after me – I knew that it wasn't safe for you to remain with me or your father, so I sent you into hiding. I can only pray to the gods that you can find it in your heart to forgive me._

_By the time you read this, I know that you've been treated well. The Chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe is a dear friend of mine – I knew that I could trust him with your safety. It breaks my heart that I can't see you grow up and that I have to distance myself from you to keep you safe, but your wellbeing is more important than mine. I'm sure Astrid the Striking, the Chief's honoured wife, will understand as a mother herself and I hope that you too can understand._

_My greatest wish is that we will one day see each other again, when we no longer face the danger of being hunted down like dragons in the days of old. Be good and be safe, my dearest daughter._

_May the luck of the dragons guide your flight._

_Love you forever,_

_Mum_

I sniffed before finally letting the sobs come quietly as I clasped the letter to my heart. So the Berserkers had been after me even before I came here and somehow my mother had gotten me to Berk without them knowing, saving my life before she potentially gave up her own. All she'd wanted was my safety...to see me again when the danger had passed. My guess was that it never had – after twelve years since first coming to the dragon inhabited island, she had never shown. I felt myself wishing she could find me...somehow...but maybe deep down I knew that it was unlikely that she would, especially given that the Berserkers now knew where I was, regardless of what protection Hiccup could offer me now.

I fell back onto the pillow, clutching the precious mahogany box and its contents close to me as I struggled to drift off to sleep. When I finally managed, all I could see in my dreams were flashes of fire and the Berserker crest darting across my vision over and over again.

* * *

**AN: Sorry I haven't updated as much as I would have liked to this summer. School's starting up again soon but I'm trying to stick to a schedule with most of my stories while I can. Here is the planned upload schedule and I'll try to stick to it the best I can:**

**Ablaze: Wednesdays and Sundays**

**How to Twist a Dragon's Tail: Saturdays**

**These are the ones I'll be focusing on for now - Astrid's Riders of Berk has gone on hiatus until I get the time to write a few more episodes.**

**Quick Heads Up: Note that I started writing this before watching HTTYD 2 (cannot wait for that to come out on DVD!) so I won't be including any characters or events from that film.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow. I'm actually sticking to this update schedule...**

**WAKE UP CALL FOR HICCUP!**

* * *

**Chapter Six: Curiosity Piqued**

_CRASH!_

Hiccup wearily opened an eye and glared sleepily at the roof before pulling the blanket over his head. _Stupid dragon..._ he thought as the familiar sound of Toothless jumping up and down on the roof sounded throughout the house. It persisted.

_BANG!_

"Hiccup..." Astrid moaned, half asleep next to her husband and kicking him softly in the leg to get him moving. "Can you shut Toothless up before he puts another hole in the roof...?"

_CRASH!_

That one was followed by a pathetic whine.

"Alright..." Hiccup yawned, swinging himself out of bed and rubbing his eyes. "Alright...I'm going..." He slowly stood up and shouted irritably as Toothless continued jumping on the roof. "Okay! I'm coming, Useless Reptile!" he snapped. Astrid groggily sat up and glanced at Hiccup as he got his riding gear on.

"Do you always have to wear that in the middle of summer?" she smirked sleepily. Hiccup shrugged as he strapped the shoulder pads on.

"Hey, it gets cold up there," he pointed out. Another bang sounded on the roof. "Oh, for the love of...would you stop that, already?!"

"Shh! You'll wake the kids," Astrid hushed. Hiccup snorted. Knowing Flint and Ember, they were likely already up and out flying. The triplets were _probably_ trying to sneak a lie in but given how much racket Toothless was causing Hiccup was willing to bet that they would be coming through the door any minute now.

"I'll be back for breakfast," he promised, giving Astrid a quick kiss on the forehead before heading outside. Astrid smiled and was about to go back to sleep when another shriek sounded from outside, this one belonging to a Deadly Nadder.

"Urgh!" she groaned, covering her ears with a pillow until finally Stormfly persuaded her rider to wake up by shoving her head through the window,

/\

"WOO-HOO!" Hiccup hooted as he and Toothless spiralled through the clouds. Hiccup relished moments like this – true, it meant that he had to sacrifice a lie in to get it, but it was only in the early hours of the morning that he would be able to fly with Toothless as they used to...the way they used to race through the skies when Hiccup was a teenager. "Gods, I have missed this!" Hiccup crowed as he led Toothless into an inverted flight spin.

"**Beats flying around doing chief-stuff, huh?**" Toothless growled softly back. Hiccup brought his friend out of the spin and levelled out for a while, lying flat against the Night Fury's back and sighing. "**Hey, you alright there, buddy?**"

"Just times like this when I miss being a kid," Hiccup sighed sadly, taking off his flying mask for a moment and rubbing his chin where a small stubble of a beard he'd begun developing and had been trying to keep under control since he was nineteen had started growing back. "Dammit...I meant to shave this morning..."

"**Oh, come on! Astrid likes it!**" Toothless snickered. In response Hiccup elbowed his friend's back before sitting up again. "**What? You should humour her!**"

"Oh, and I take it that Windwalker likes the sideburns?" Hiccup smirked, batting the flaps of scales that hung beside either side of Toothless' face. In return, Toothless slapped Hiccup's face with his ear. "OW!"

"**As a matter of fact, she does,**" Toothless stuck his tongue out. He sighed himself briefly. "**Speaking of, Starlight's nearly old enough to find her own mate, now.**"

"Already?" Hiccup frowned. He knew how close Starlight was to his son, so the thought of her flying off to find a mate of her own was rather sad. "Isn't she only thirteen?"

"**Thirteen's the age when a dragon normally starting a family,**" Toothless explained. "**Night Furies are a little slower – from what I remember Mom was...**" he trailed off. Hiccup bit his lip – it must be hard for Toothless to remember the family he hadn't seen in ages.

"You know, we _need_ to get round to finding those guys," he huffed. Toothless snorted.

"**Yeah, remembering what happened the last time?**" he pointed out. Hiccup winced – like he needed a reminder.

"_Thank you_, buddy – I'd almost forgotten about that," he smirked, turning Toothless around to head back towards the village. "Seriously, though – you dragons grow up so fast it scares me sometimes. I mean, come on! You're the same age as me and I _swear_ you act older."

"**Just because you've never really grown up!**" Toothless protested. "**Besides, you humans grow up so slowly it ****_worries me _****sometimes!**" retorted. "**At any rate, you've mentally aged me by ****_ten years _****because of your antics!**"

"Okay, seriously – how many times have I worried people that much?" Hiccup joked, slipping his flying mask back on.

"**You ****_do _****realise that your near-death-experience tally has reached the thirties now, right?**"

"You're _still_ counting?!"

/\

Hiccup touched Toothless down just as he saw Astrid head off for a morning flight with Stormfly. Smiling and waving as she flew past, Hiccup rightly assumed that breakfast was his job today – it seemed fair, given that Astrid had done dinner the night before. As he began walking back to the house he spotted Ember nearby.

"Morning, Em!" he greeted. Ember smiled and jogged over – Hiccup frowned when he saw how tired she looked. "You alright?" he asked.

"Sure, I'm fine, Pa," Ember tried and failed to hide a yawn.

"Your eyes are red and you're yawning – how much sleep did you get last night?" Hiccup pressed, kneeling down slightly so that he was at Ember's eye level. He wasn't lying – Ember's catlike yellow eyes were bloodshot.

"Okay...not a lot..." she admitted shamefully. Hiccup placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I kept dreaming about Mum..." Hiccup sighed.

"You sure you don't want us to find out anything?" he asked.

"I was thinking about it, actually," Ember admitted. "I mean, I've been wondering about it for years...maybe."

"Tell you what," Hiccup smiled, his green eyes glinting kindly. "I'll look into it. If I find out anything, I'll let you know. Would you like that?" Ember's tired face lit up slightly.

"Sure," she yawned. "Thanks, Pa..."

Ember was interrupted when she heard shouting from the village. Hiccup facepalmed...great, _just_ when today had gotten off to such a good start.

/\

I rolled my eyes when I heard the shouting – once again Flint had gotten into a fight with Spitface about something. Okay, they put up with each other at the best of times and tried not to get into squabbles (it was worse when we were younger, trust me) but when they fought, it was a miracle we weren't deafened, they were that loud. I followed Pa as he began speed-walking over to the Plaza where a crowd had gathered whilst Flint and Spitface were locked in their verbal battle.

"So you're saying it's _my _fault that Ember got into trouble yesterday?!" Flint spat. I grimaced – I hated being the centre of arguments.

"Didn't your _dad_ tell you to keep her out of trouble?" Spitface retorted. "Or did you change into a Mommy's Boy since he started going all 'Ooh! I need to keep my son safe all the time!' on you?"

"You call me a Mother's Boy again and _you're_ the one who's gonna need to be kept 'safe'!" Flint yelled.

"It's not my problem you didn't tell her to get back into hiding," Spitface smirked. I stayed put as Hiccup stormed over – the boys didn't notice for a moment.

"I didn't exactly see you trying to fix the situation!"

"Well, she's not my sister, is she? Oh, wait – she's not even..."

"Would you two just put a sock in it already?!" Hiccup bellowed as he marched over. Both boys winced and the crowd began to disperse – it was never a good idea to make Hiccup's already bad mood even worse and after the events of yesterday afternoon the villagers had been hoping for things to cool down within a day or so but clearly there would be no such luck. "Do you think I don't have enough to deal with without the pair of you getting down each other's throats more than a Zippleback arguing with its other head?"

"Flint threatened to hit me, Chief," Spitface mumbled.

"Spitface accused me of not protecting Ember!" Flint snapped, glaring daggers at Spitface and shooting a glance at Hiccup. I bit my lip and rubbed my arm – why did everyone just feel that I had to be protected? Come on, I had Pondskater and I could fight – I can take care of myself.

"I don't care who accused who of doing what," Hiccup huffed. "I'm sick to the teeth of the both of you having these stupid arguments – you're not kids anymore!"

"Pa..." I muttered nearby. I didn't think that Hiccup needed to be so harsh on Flint – he was his son after all. Though I could see his point – he'd been having a bad last couple of days and an argument between Flint and Spitface, which was capable of driving anyone up a wall, was the last thing he needed. I didn't expect Flint to go off in such a rage at Spitface though. I guess that was another thing he'd inherited from his mother – anger issues.

"But Dad, I..." Flint started.

"I hate to say it, Flint, but Spitface has a point," Hiccup glowered. "I've asked you on multiple occasions to keep Ember out of trouble..." _Now_ I find out about this?! Hiccup, I swear to Thor, if I find out that you've had _anything_ else you've hidden from me... "...and yesterday you didn't get her to go back into hiding when the Berserkers came out." I saw Flint's scowl deepen. "We were lucky she got away."

"Told you so," Spitface snickered. Hiccup glared at him as well.

"_You_, Spitface, don't have any right to accuse Flint of anything!" he snapped. "You may be right but you don't use that against him – I've told you enough times." Spitface made to interrupt but Pa cut across. "Things are getting rocky enough as it is with pirates returning to the North..." Quick explanation here, the Archipelago's only _just_ started having problems with pirates again for the first time in a decade or something. From what I remember, they're actually the exiled Outcasts, hence why they're so much bother for _everyone_, not just us. "I can't afford to have my village fighting amongst itself."

"Fine..." Flint huffed hatefully. I blinked a few times and double checked that I'd heard him correctly – Flint had _never_ used that tone with his father before. Hiccup sighed and tried to console the boy – Spitface had already run off to sulk somewhere (probably his 'soggy alone place', wherever and whatever that was).

"Look, I'm sorry about this, Flint," he apologised. I could see the pain in his eyes – Hiccup _hated_ scolding Flint. "But..."

"I know," Flint cut across, shaking Hiccup's hand off his shoulder. "You need to keep the peace in the village," he recited, having heard the words multiple times before. Immediately afterwards, Flint stomped past his father and headed towards the Wild Zone as Hiccup watched sadly after him.

/\

"Flint..." Hiccup breathed sadly. Ember gazed up at him.

"Do you think you were a bit harsh on him back there?" she asked, confused. Hiccup sighed – Ember was too good at picking up emotions.

"He has every right to get mad at me at times like this," he muttered sadly. He knew why Flint distanced himself from him. "I promised myself I wouldn't turn out like this..." he added, more to himself than to Ember.

"Pa?" Ember pressed. Hiccup smiled sadly at her.

"You know the stories I told you about Dad?" he asked. Ember nodded. "Well...it was kinda the same for us."

"With him being the protective and dutiful chief and everything," Ember remembered. Hiccup nodded and it was then that he realised something – Ember's dark hair, shimmering dark auburn in the summer sunlight, was no longer in its messy tangled state but held off her face with a hair pin made of dark silver and decorated with emeralds. Squinting slightly at it, he recognised the designs that the silver was curled and twisted into.

"Where'd you get that?" he asked despite the situation. Ember's hand drifted to the hair pin.

"Oh...it was in the box Ma gave me last night," she explained, her yellow gaze turning down. Hiccup immediately understood why – the hair pin must have belonged to Ember's birth mother. "But seriously, why would Flint act like that to you? You guys are as close as anything," she asked again, going back to the original topic of conversation. Hiccup huffed.

"You'd probably hear the story better from him," he replied grimly. "Although if you really want to hear it from me, I'd personally hoped I'd turn out to be a better father." That ended that as Hiccup turned away to head back to his house, leaving Ember standing in the Plaza.

/\

I watched as Hiccup headed back home – his words had gotten me thinking. Grandpa Stoick and Hiccup had often told me about how their relationship had never been easy because Hiccup had always been such a non-Viking-y...well, Viking...and so Hiccup had often said that he would be a better father to his children than Stoick was. Bearing in mind that Hiccup had apparently been something like nine at the time and was more susceptible to tantrums like that but it had still hurt Grandpa Stoick – to think that Hiccup had still felt that way when Flint was born was actually sad to tell the truth and the fact that he felt like he'd failed was even worse. Actually, what made it worse for _me_ was that he was an amazing dad! As I'd said moments before, Flint looked up to Hiccup like a hero and loved him more than anything. It was just those occasional moments where his frustration with Hiccup's protectiveness and sense of duty to his tribe got the best of him that constantly made Hiccup feel like he was doing a bad job. According to Astrid, it was small things like that which had always made Hiccup doubt himself.

I jogged in the direction that Flint had headed, whistling a shrill Night Fury call which Starlight (luckily – it got confusing sometimes when both of us had the same species of dragon) answered in seconds.

"Where'd he go?" I asked quickly.

"**Forest,**" Starlight in the Dragonese I could barely understand. I pointed out that I knew that much. "**He had his stick with the bits of sharp metal...**" That would be his favourite axe – Flint had a habit of carrying it around with him wherever he went.

"He's probably letting off some steam," I noted. "Thanks, Starlight." I ran off into the forest and listened for the sound of metal against wood. It didn't take me long to find it.

_THUNK!_

"Are you set on killing _every_ tree on Berk before noon?" I asked carefully as an easily recognisable axe stuck into a tree a few yards ahead of me. Flint came through the ferns, still scowling, to collect it.

"I take it you saw what happened," he growled. I sagged.

"No, duh – the entire village saw what happened," I pointed out. Flint yanked his axe out of the tree and slumped against the trunk. I took this as a sign to say that it was safe enough to approach him. "Look, you're closer with Pa than the triplets – what happened?" I quizzed bluntly. "You didn't have to use that tone on him." Flint avoided eye contact but I was going to worm the answer out of him somehow.

/\

Astrid came in to land with Stormfly just as she spotted Hiccup head back into the house. The way he was walking suggested that something wasn't right with him – his face was down and he was walking quickly as if he wanted to get away from something.

"Hiccup!" Astrid called, dismounting Stormfly. "What's up?" Hiccup barely took any notice of her as he entered the house – he was distracted momentarily by the triplets running after Camicaze but he still headed inside without another word. Astrid rolled her eyes and followed – what was it with her husband and avoiding questions? "Hiccup?" she called, opening the door. She made a face when she saw Hiccup get some parchment and ink out from a chest under the stairs. "Paperwork at this time?" she raised an eyebrow.

"It needs to be done sooner or later," Hiccup mumbled. Astrid refrained from groaning. Hiccup was such a bad liar – even if there _was_ paperwork to be done, he _never_ did it this early in the morning.

"Is it Flint again?" she questioned gently. Hiccup paused in his movements for a split second but it was enough to confirm Astrid's suspicions. "What happened to him this time? You're closer than anything," she asked sadly. Hiccup sighed and slumped down on a chair, dumping the parchment, ink and his quill on the table.

"What am I supposed to do, Astrid?" he asked in a tone that suggested he was almost angry with himself.

/\

"I just wish he'd act more like he's my father outside the house sometimes, that's all," Flint snarled quietly. I frowned – Hiccup loved Flint more than anything and vice versa! Why would Flint feel like the man didn't act like a father? "You _saw_ what happened!" Flint pointed out when I voiced this aloud. "Every time I get into an argument with someone and their parent comes over, they _always_ take their kid's side. When Dad comes over, it's like I'm not even a part of his family!"

"What makes you say that?" I questioned.

/\

"I know he wants me to act more like his dad outside these four walls," Hiccup sighed, gesturing to the house around him in his usual way – even at thirty he hadn't grown out of it. "But I just..."

"In what way are you not acting like a father?" Astrid huffed.

"Whenever the kids get into fights, their parents mostly end up taking their side – especially Snotlout when it comes to Spitface," Hiccup explained. "Me, on the other hand..."

"You're only trying to be fair," Astrid pointed out, although the trace of sadness in her voice was easy to pick out. "We've been through this..."

/\

"He barely ever backs me up," Flint scowled. "I get that he's trying to be fair and all but..."

"He's the chief, Flint," I reminded him sadly. "It's his job to be fair."

"Well, then I wish that he _wasn't_ the chief!" Flint snapped.

/\

"I don't want him being picked on for me taking his side just because he's my son," Hiccup almost cried out, leaving his chair abruptly and pacing up and down in front of the fireplace. "It's hard enough that being the son of the chief makes you a target anyway..."

"You were hardly a..." Astrid tried to cut across but Hiccup was barely listening.

"I want to back him up but I just feel like..."

/\

"I don't want him to act like a chief!" Flint huffed. He wasn't yelling at me and I could tell he wasn't angry as such – just incredibly frustrated. "I want him to act like my dad more, not just at home!"

/\

"I don't want to act like a chief..." Hiccup sighed, finally calming down enough to make sense. "I just want to be his dad..."

"You _are_, Hiccup," Astrid pointed out.

"Well, then, I'm doing a _great_ job of showing it outside this house, aren't I?" Hiccup scowled slightly, gesturing to the house around him angrily again. Astrid walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder – Hiccup forced a smile and placed a hand on top of it before Astrid went on tiptoe and planted a small kiss on his forehead. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't be," Astrid soothed. "You'll figure it out someday."

"I was hoping that I would never _have_ to figure it out," Hiccup huffed slightly, heading back over to the table where the parchment, ink and quill lay almost discarded. "I'd hoped I'd be better than this."

"Hey, it's just one of the challenges of parenthood," Astrid smirked light-heartedly, trying to get Hiccup back in a good mood. "And Flint's a teenager now. Considering how much he takes after me you shouldn't be surprised about these outbursts." Hiccup tried to hide a small laugh behind a cough but Astrid caught it – instead of punching Hiccup, she laughed with him. "And, I hate to say it, but I can see where he's coming from – you can be a bit overbearing sometimes," she added.

"Well, _thank you_, mi' lady, for making me feel _so_ much better," Hiccup rolled his eyes sarcastically but he meant well – he knew where his wife was coming from when it came to his protective nature. He just hated to see a family member get hurt – it had gotten worse after Kyra vanished. Astrid decided to change the subject looked at the parchment on the table. Unlike other pieces of paperwork that Hiccup constantly put off until the last minute, this piece was blank as Hiccup dipped his eagle feather quill into the ink pot.

"What paperwork is this?" she quizzed.

"It's not," Hiccup noted, his mind now taken away from the brief spat he and Flint had. "You know me too well for it to be anything like that." Astrid watched intently as Hiccup scribbled the first line of what appeared was going to be a letter:

_To the Chief of the Meathead Tribe, Artair the Faithful_

"Now's the time you choose to catch up with your brother-in-law?" Astrid remarked. Hiccup and Artair had been out of touch for almost ten years – the only time they'd spoken was at the annual gatherings and even then conversation was minimal.

"Have you seen the hairpin Ember's wearing today?" Hiccup asked in reply. Astrid made a face.

"Have you forgotten how I don't like a question being answered with another question?" she smirked.

"Have you realised how you're being a bit hypocritical right now?" Hiccup retaliated, earning nothing but a punch on the shoulder. "Ow!"

"Yeah, I have," Astrid answered regardless. "She said it was in the box I gave her yesterday – the one left by her mother. Why?"

"That hairpin had designs only found in Meathead accessories," Hiccup pointed out. Astrid blinked in surprise – she knew that tribes had a signature pattern to their goods that could help people tell where they were originally from but she had never realised that the swirling vine design on Ember's emerald encrusted hairpin belonged to the Meatheads. "Artair never reported a child missing after the Battle of the Burning Moon..."

"You think Ember's parents were Meatheads?" Astrid realised.

"It's a start," Hiccup nodded. "She has the right to know where she comes from, Astrid. I might as well help her – also, I promised her that I'd look into it."

"You mean, _we_ might as well help her," Astrid corrected. Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "Honestly, for the smartest Viking in the Archipelago you can be really slow on the uptake sometimes," she huffed, ruffling his hair and heading outside to find Camicaze to deliver the letter once Hiccup was done with it.

Hiccup didn't bother arguing – there was no dissuading Astrid once her mind was made up.

/\

"Is that new?" Flint asked me after he'd calmed down, pointing at my hairpin. To be honest, even though I was glad to have finally gotten Flint to open up about his problems with his father's protective nature and obligations as a chief, I was also relieved for the change in conversation.

"Well...kind of," I shrugged. "It was in that box Ma gave me yesterday."

"So your mother left that for you?" Flint deduced. I nodded but decided to keep the letter to myself – that was my personal secret, my one tie to my mother that I wanted to keep to myself. "It suits you," Flint forced a smile which I returned.

"Thanks," I grinned gently. Flint squinted at the thing holding my fringe back for a moment. "What is it?"

"Are those patterns Meathead ones?" he asked. I frowned. "Each tribe has a distinguishing pattern on their goods – Dad was telling me about it the other week."

"Since when was Pa an expert on accessory designs?" I smirked, coughing up a small snort.

"Yeah, I know," Flint shrugged. "Weird. He said I should know about these things. Why, I've no idea."

"I guess he's just got an eye for detail," I snorted. "Why'd you point it out in the first place?"

"You said your mom left that in the box?" Flint frowned. I nodded. "What if she was a Meathead?"

"Are you saying that's where I might be from?" I blinked.

"It's possible," Flint supposed. He glanced up at the sky – the sun was reaching its highest point meaning that lunch was getting close and the last time we'd been late for lunch...well, let's just say that you don't want to know.

/\

"Hey, isn't that Camicaze?" I frowned as we came out of the trees towards the house. I squinted and definitely recognised the green and red Terrible Terror that flew out of the upper floor window.

"What's Dad doing sending airmail at this time of day?" Flint wondered. "He usually saves it for..."

"...the evening, I know," I finished. "Let's go." I pushed open the front door to see Hiccup coming down the stairs and Astrid packing what looked like a food hamper.

"Em, Flint," she greeted when she saw us. "You might want to get your long-distance riding gear on."

"What gives?" Flint asked. Hiccup grabbed his flying helmet from a nearby shelf before answering.

"I figured we'd pay Artair a visit – I've got a few things I want to ask him," he replied, almost dropping his hand-made fire sword, Inferno, that he'd made ages ago (he barely ever left the house without it) as he struggled to strap it to his leg with one hand. I frowned in thought.

"Is it anything to do with this?" I asked, indicating my hair pin. When Hiccup asked how I'd figured that out, I replied that Flint had pointed out that the hair pin design was typical of the Meathead clan. "You're going to ask him about my family, aren't you?"

"We don't have to if you don't want us to," Astrid answered quickly. "It's just that..."

"No," I interrupted, a smile creeping onto my face before I realised it. "It's fine. Besides, it'll be nice to see Artair for once outside the treaty renewals." That settled it. We would head out after lunch, once we sure that the airmail would have reached the Meathead Isles informing Artair of our visit. The journey wouldn't take too long with the dragons and the triplets were put into the care of Grandpa Stoick whilst we were out. Windwalker insisted on coming with us according to Hiccup – given that Toothless was her mate it probably wouldn't have been the best of ideas to refuse – the last time I'd tried Astrid said I was lucky to have escaped Hiccup's fate in losing a leg.

Last time I ever messed with a Night Fury, I'll tell you that.

* * *

**Not going to lie, this was kind of a 'meh' chapter for me personally - it had its moments but...I don't know, I might be being hard on myself. Tell me what you guys think. Annoyingly I still haven't completed this thing and I'm quickly running out of chapters - I'll try to keep updates as regular as possible but I apologise if anything comes late. Anyway, thanks again for reading guys - to those who are keeping up with _Ablaze,_ the next chapter will be posted tomorrow and keep an eye out for the next chapter of _How to Twist a Dragon's Tail _next Saturday.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Bit late for today's update, I know - had some other stuff going on. But, never mind! Here we go - time for an old OC to make an appearance.**

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Catch Up with the In-Law**

"You three behave yourselves, now," Hiccup warned the triplets as he left his father's house. Lysa and Nott promised although Hiccup was sure that Eva crossed her fingers behind her back...there was always the one. "We might stay the night, Dad," he explained to Stoick. "We'll be back by tomorrow afternoon latest."

"I'll keep an eye on things whilst you're gone, son," Stoick smiled. He nodded kindly to Flint and Ember who were ready in their long-distance flight gear by their Night Furies and Astrid who was standing by Stormfly. "Say hello to Artair for me."

"Will do, Grandpa," Flint promised, mounting Starlight as Ember nodded before hopping onto Pondskater's back. "Make sure the triplets don't break anything."

"I'll do my best," Stoick chuckled, ushering the three girls inside as Astrid also asked him to make sure they were in bed before sundown, although Ember snorted behind her – the triplets never stuck to the curfew.

Once the goodbyes had been completed, the four dragons took to the skies as the family began heading south towards the Meathead Isles. Hiccup shoved his flying helmet onto his head and Flint did the same behind him – Astrid and Ember never really bothered, their excuse being that they enjoyed feeling the wind in their face (*cough* it kept their hair out of their face *cough*). Even on the dragons, the journey was going to be a long one – half a day's flight maximum – so they had time to kill.

"So, what's with the sudden decision to visit Uncle Artair?" Flint asked from Starlight's back, his voice slightly muffled by his riding mask.

"Didn't we establish this before lunch?" Hiccup replied sarcastically. Flint relaxed a little – at least his father was being his dry-humoured self instead of 'do-what's-best-for-Berk' mode.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that!" he called back. "But why now? It couldn't wait?"

"I promised Ember this morning I'd look into it," Hiccup explained. Flint shot a look at Ember whose auburn-black hair was streaming behind her as she raced alongside Starlight on Pondskater.

"It's true, he did," she confirmed, her yellow eyes flashing as the late afternoon sun caught them. "Although, Flint's right, Pa!" she shouted forward. "It didn't _have_ to be this afternoon."

"Well, we should be halfway there now so..." Hiccup pointed out when he felt his stomach growl. Astrid shot him a glance from Stormfly which indicated the need for everyone to take a quick snack break – even the dragons had rumbling noises coming from their stomachs so it was a good thing that Astrid had remembered to pack extra salmon. Ember spotted a convenient outcrop just below them and after quickly making sure that it wasn't inhabited with unfriendly wild dragons, the group settled down to eat.

"Can't believe how flying can be such hungry work..." Astrid mumbled through a mouthful of flatbread. Hiccup nodded in agreement – they'd had lunch merely a few hours ago!

"How much longer till we get there?" Ember asked, tossing a salmon to Pondskater who scampered to his feet and ran after it – Toothless and Windwalker looked up from their own meal and seemed to sigh in a parental-loving way at their youngest son's behaviour. Starlight rolled her eyes next to Flint who was sharing his chicken with her.

"If we're where I think we are, another hour at most," Flint replied. Ember had never been on the trip to the Meathead Isles like the rest of Haddocks had (minus the triplets) so it came as no surprise that she was asking the 'Are we there yet?' type questions. "Speaking of, _where are we_?" he asked quickly. A Deadly Nadder call from up high answered his question – it was Iona.

"Yoo-hoo!" she hooted, swooping past the family on Sunset and having the red Nadder swipe the rest of Flint's chicken. "Someone's a bit far from the home territory!" she teased. Flint made to protest but just flushed red again.

/\

I couldn't help but snort with laughter as Iona and Sunset nicked the rest of Flint's food. I was a bit confused as to why she was so far out from the Meathead Isles, though.

"What gives, Iona?" I called up as Pondskater came stumbling back with half a salmon dangling out of his mouth.

"Hunting," Iona explained quickly, pointing at a large sack of something strapped to Sunset's saddle. "Stocks have been going low – Artair reckons the Berserkers are trying to 'reclaim' supplies." I huffed – no wonder, especially if that bandit was the one stealing the Berserkers food. Although the Meathead Isles were on the complete opposite end of the Archipelago to the Berserkers – why would they be targeting that tribe?

"Well, we were just on our way to see Artair – is he around?" Hiccup called up, getting to his feet...foot...whatever. Iona brought Sunset to the ground where Stormfly greeted her daughter before the girl dismounted the dragon.

"Sure is – I think Cami reached him just before I set out," she nodded. "Mom was about to come look for you."

"Oh, well, we'll say hi when we bump into her then," Astrid shrugged with her usual smirk. Iona's face went into a frown.

"He barely ever leaves the Isles unless it's for the annual Chief-Greet," she sighed.

"I get that," Hiccup agreed. "He's not been the same since..." he trailed off but Iona got the point.

"What's with the sudden visit anyway? Anything to do with that bandit?" she asked instead. Flint found his tongue and said it was a family visit – he didn't mention that it might have something to do with my real family but I'm glad he left it at that. "Right," Iona nodded in acceptance. "Might do him good – we rarely see him around the village."

"I'm hoping so," Hiccup smiled sadly, feeding Toothless the last of the salmon before climbing onto the saddle. "You want to head back with us?" he offered. "Or are you still hunting?"

"Nah, I was just heading back," Iona shrugged, climbing onto Sunset's back again. "If you don't mind me tagging along," she added with a sweet smile and shooting a glance at Flint who cringed slightly – I stifled a giggle. Flint _really_ wasn't himself around Iona – it was endearing.

Once we were in the air again I caught up to Hiccup at the front of the flying formation and decided to ask about the visit.

"So, what exactly are we gonna be asking Artair, anyway, Pa?" I questioned.

"I'm just going to ask if he's sure no children went missing during the Battle of the Burning Moon," Hiccup replied, his voice slightly muffled by his helmet. "Or any time after that – he's more vigilant than that if he didn't notice anything."

"You think that's around the time my mother hid me in Johan's ship?" I asked, my eyebrows rising in question.

"It's likely," Hiccup confirmed. "If that doesn't work, show him the hairpin." I nodded – if the hairpin had Meathead designs on it, Artair would know it came from his tribe originally and explain how it had come to be in my mother's possession. True the thing might have been traded but the Meathead Isles were a good place to start looking.

As expected, it took another hour of flying before the silhouette of the Meathead Isles appeared on the horizon. We sped up the dragons for the last leg of the flight before a horn sounded on the mainland to announce the arrival of Chief Hiccup the Dragon Trainer of Berk and his family. Lo and behold, it came as no surprise that Heather was the one greeting us.

"Nice of you guys to return the favour," she greeted with her usual smile as we touched down. Hiccup and Flint shook their hair loose from their flying helmets and nodded a greeting in return whilst Astrid and I smiled, our faces too cold to say anything else (maybe we _should_ look into getting flying helmets of our own). "Artair's waiting in his house – he said he'd see you as soon as you got here."

"Thanks, Heather," Hiccup thanked, patting Toothless and giving him, along with the rest of the dragons, the signal to go and spend some time with the Meathead dragons – Heather had set up the Meathead Dragon Training Academy shortly after moving in with Magnus after they got married and the kids here loved it. I glanced at Hiccup and Astrid – judging by their faces, they were nervous about seeing Artair like this after spending so long out of touch with him. Flint looked mildly excited to see his uncle – me, I was curious to see what the guy was like having never really met him at all.

"What's the story behind you guys and Chief Artair anyway?" I asked as Pondskater ran off with his parents and older sister.

"He married Hiccup's sister – I thought we told you," Astrid reminded me. I rolled my eyes – I was hoping for more detail than that so I pressed them a bit. "It was when we were seventeen," Astrid relented. "Kyra was eighteen at the time but she still hadn't married."

"Dad and Chief Mugdug arranged for her and Artair to meet and Sven's-your-uncle-Helga's-your-aunt, it worked," Hiccup explained quickly. I wasn't satisfied but the two grownups clearly didn't feel like talking about it as we neared the Meathead Chief's house on the cliff overlooking the Northern Sea. Slowly, Hiccup walked up to the oaken door and knocked three times – moments later, a man appeared in the doorway. I peeked around Hiccup to get a good look at the guy.

He was around Hiccup's age, maybe a year or two older, and had jet black hair framing a strong-jawed face that had a pair of hazel eyes set into it. He was stockier than Hiccup, although maybe a bit shorter, but he wasn't as large as some Vikings. He wore a dark blue tunic over black leggings with chain mail hanging from a Gronkle Iron chest plate (I learned later that Hiccup had made it for his brother-in-law's birthday ages ago, Berk was known for its Gronkle Iron exports after Fishlegs had discovered the correct rock Gronkles needed to eat in order to make it) and his helmet was made of iron, rusting slightly around the edges and dented from many a battle. No doubt that this was Artair the Faithful.

/\

"Hiccup, Astrid," Artair greeted formally. "I got your message."

"I gathered," Hiccup noted, peering over the man's shoulder to see Cami snoozing by the fire. "Sorry for the short notice."

"No, not at all," Artair shook his head, smiling slightly and standing back. "Do come in," he offered. The Haddocks took him up on the offer and headed indoors where a large pile of paper work was piled up on the table and Venom, Artair's green and gold Deadly Nadder, was having a pre-supper snack of Icelandic cod. "Sorry about the state of this place," Artair grimaced, quickly shoving some papers into a chest.

"It's fine – our place isn't that much better," Astrid shrugged, casting a reproachful look at Hiccup who flushed visibly.

"I said I'd get it sorted on Odin's Day!" he protested.

"Which Odin's Day would that be?" Flint snorted. Hiccup ruffled his son's hair in retaliation. "Hey!"

"You've grown," Artair remarked with a kind smirk, crossing his arms in amusement when he saw his nephew.

"Duh," Flint laughed, a lopsided smile that matched his father's crossing his face. "Nice to see you again, Uncle," he grinned. Artair smiled in reply when his gaze fell upon the girl standing next to Flint – she sported black hair that shimmered dark auburn in the firelight and her pale face was beset with a pair of green-yellow eyes. Holding her hair out of her face was a dark silver hairpin decorated with emeralds.

/\

I could have sworn I saw Artair freeze when his gaze fell on me. His smile, still there from his brief exchange with Flint, seemed forced all of a sudden.

"I take it you've noticed Ember," Hiccup realised, also picking up on Artair's pause.

"Yes..." he replied. I noticed that he didn't look away from me as he spoke. "I take it that she's..." he trailed off, briefly looking at my adoptive parents. Astrid huffed.

"Well...yeah, we took her in when she was a baby," she explained. Well, at least they were being open about it now. Only took them twelve years. "Ember was brought to Berk by Johan – we've never known who her parents were."

"I...I see," Artair nodded, looking back at me. His hazel gaze fell onto my hairpin. "Hold on – isn't that...?"

"Oh, this?" I blinked, my hand straying to the pin. I removed it so that Artair could examine it more closely but I didn't give it to him. "It was in a box my mother left me."

"We wanted to ask you about it, actually," Hiccup explained. Artair tore his gaze away from me to look at his brother-in-law. "I'm sure you recognise the designs on that thing."

"Sure – I think I'd know if something came from my islands," Artair replied, quietly almost in disbelief with his gaze constantly daring between me and Hiccup. I was stunned for a second on his change of tone. Hiccup didn't seem to notice, although if he did he didn't let it show and instead just continued calmly.

"I'd just like to know how it would have come into Ember's mother's possession," he said calmly.

"Why?" Artair asked abruptly. Even Hiccup was slightly taken aback by it.

"Nothing – I just promised Ember I'd look into it," he explained, raising his hands defensively. Artair's face steeled and his fists clenched.

"I can't help," he said firmly. "You'd be better off taking her back to Berk."

"Wait, what?" I blinked. Flint did a double take next to me and Astrid and Hiccup both froze solid. Why had Artair said that? The man seemed to react to his own sentence as if he'd said something he shouldn't have done. "Sir, please – was my mother a Meathead?" I asked desperately. "If this thing was a traded item..." I started, putting the pin back into my hair. "Then fine, but..."

"Listen, forget I said anything!" Artair interrupted, starting to usher us towards the door.

/\

Hiccup dug his feet into the ground, refusing to move. Artair was clearly hiding something – the man had never been a good liar – but considering that he _hated_ people hiding stuff from him (Kyra not telling him that she had a Night Fury eye was a prime example when they'd first met), Hiccup couldn't help but feel angry at Artair's hypocrisy.

"Artair!" he snapped, stepping further into the house so that Artair was standing by the door and the Haddocks were inside. That way, the Meathead chief had less of a chance of kicking them out. "Ember just wants to know where her family comes from! Give her a break!"

"Just tell us if her mother was a Meathead or not," Astrid sighed. "Then we'll be on our way if that's what you want."

"Please! I can't talk about this right now!" Artair protested, storming past them and heading over to the table to try to distract himself with paperwork. It didn't help.

"Why not?" Flint argued. "This is _Ember's_ family we're trying to find!" Artair blanked them but his fist clenched around the quill he was holding.

"They're gone...they're both gone..." he muttered, barely loud enough to hear. Hiccup didn't miss a thing.

"Did you know her parents by any chance?" he asked. Artair took a sharp intake of breath at that. "You want her to stay safe, like her mother did?" he realised, remembering the note that had been left with Ember the day she was brought to Berk. Artair sighed and turned around.

"Yes, I knew them," he huffed. "They were Meatheads. Leave it at that and get her out of here," he hissed. Ember's eyes narrowed.

"I'm sorry, am I not welcome here?" she growled. "Didn't realise I'd done anything wrong."

"Em..." Astrid muttered sharply.

"It's not that," Artair sighed. Hiccup wasn't finished.

"That brings me to something else," he added, his tone getting increasingly frustrated. "If Ember's parents _were_ Meatheads, how come you never let anyone know that a child was missing? She's been with us for twelve years!" Artair seemed to pause before answering.

"Everyone who vanished from the Isles after the war was presumed dead," he explained, although he spoke slowly and cautiously. Astrid growled inwardly – he was still hiding something. Whilst his back was turned, she began looking through a pile of papers that were stacked almost out of sight behind a sword and shield – she froze momentarily when she saw the piece of parchment at the bottom of the pile. "We didn't send out Missing notices," Artair added, almost glaring at Hiccup. "There – I've helped you all I can!" he snapped.

"Really?" Astrid glowered, holding up what looked like a sketch of some kind. "Then what about _this_?" she snapped, holding the parchment up. Artair froze when he saw it, as did Hiccup when he examined it.

The parchment showed a sketch for a portrait, and a very old one at that – it couldn't have been less than a decade old. The sketch depicted two familiar people: one was Artair, when he was around twenty-ish years old; and the other was a woman who very much resembled Hiccup – she had a similar oval-shaped face, although it was slightly slimmer, and her hair, despite the fact that it had obviously been combed, had a similar tussled look to it. Her right eye was also the same shape as Hiccup's but the left eye stood out – it was the shape of a dragon's and had a slit for a pupil. Hiccup only had to look at the portrait and tell that it was his lost sister, Kyra, but that wasn't what had made him freeze – cradled in Kyra's arms was a tiny child whose hair had been coloured the same black as Artair's in the sketch. The baby's face also looked startlingly familiar.

Hiccup inhaled sharply – he knew that Kyra had had a baby, not very long after Flint had been born, actually, but because of the war breaking out between the Berserkers and the Meatheads, he had never seen the child and knew nothing about it: what it looked like or even what its name was. He now knew both – written in runes at the bottom of the sketch was the following inscription:

_Chief Artair the Faithful with wife, Kyra the Ablaze, and..._

/\

I saw Hiccup blink a few times as he read the runes as the bottom of the parchment. He trailed off and started to hand the picture to me when Artair sprung over, making to snatch the parchment away but Hiccup held it out of reach before he could get to it.

"Hiccup, give that to me!" Artair ordered with a growl. Hiccup glared at him with a ferocity that outdid even his anger towards Spitface and Flint earlier that morning.

"Not until Ember sees it," he glowered. "Personally I think _you_ owe her an explanation."

My green-yellow eyes must have been filling my face with confusion as Hiccup slowly gave the sketch to me, the whole time his forest-green glare never leaving Artair who watched the parchment with shocked disbelief. Slowly I examined the sketch – I recognised the woman as being similar in looks to Hiccup and guessed that this was Flint's aunt, Kyra but the inscription at the bottom was what stunned me into complete silence.

_Chief Artair the Faithful with wife, Kyra the Ablaze, and daughter, Ember Godrikson._

* * *

**AN: Okay, probably not that surprising but Artair – you have ****_so _****much to answer for, my friend! I'd get the popcorn ready because things are about to get ugly.**

**Just to make things clear, Artair had no idea Ember was even alive – he just deals with shock very badly.**

**See you guys tomorrow with the next _Ablaze_ update!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I MADE IT! Phew...today's been busy but I've been able to keep to the upload schedule!**

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Ambush**

The parchment in my hands rustled audibly as my hands shook violently. I had to reread the thing into order to make sure I wasn't imagining things but it was there, clear as day: '_Ember Godrikson_'. Not to mention, the baby in the sketch looked almost exactly like the one in a sketch Hiccup had done when I saw small – he'd shown it to me on my tenth birthday just to be the embarrassing father-figure (he'd done the same to Flint – I dreaded what would happen when we came of age). There wasn't anyone else it could be...could there?

"This is...?" I mumbled. Artair took a few steps back and his face turned...well, I wasn't really sure. He still looked almost as if he was in disbelief but at the same time there was...something else..

"Yes..." he whispered. "That's you." My heart stopped briefly – for the first time in my entire life, I was in the presence of my real father. Artair's face went from fretful to almost desperate and pleading as he turned to face Hiccup. "Are you happy now? You found out what you wanted. You know who her family is," he said calmly. He looked to be on the verge of tears but Hiccup looked far from happy.

"No, I'm not happy," he replied darkly. Astrid herself looked confused as she looked at the man I now knew to be my father. "I want to know _why_ you haven't so much as let _me_ know that Ember was _your_ child this whole time!" he snapped.

"Hiccup..." Artair began in almost a pleading tone but I cut across him this time.

"You never let Hiccup know your own child was missing?" I half-whispered, blinking quickly as I tried to take everything in – the parchment in my hands rustled loudly.

"It's not that I didn't let him know – I _couldn't_ let him know!" he protested weakly. Okay, _that_ made no sense and we all knew it! "They were after her, Hiccup! I don't know why but they were!" Artair explained. "I didn't even kn..."

"I know full well that the Berserkers are after Ember for whatever reason," Hiccup retaliated, his voice deathly calm. "That doesn't explain why you didn't tell me that your own daughter was missing along with your wife!" His tone was calm and quiet but I knew Hiccup too well. This often preceded anger for him – according to Astrid, Hiccup had been devastated upon learning of Kyra's disappearance but neither of them had ever learnt the fate of her child. They'd assumed that it had been lost to the fires of war.

"Hiccup, please - listen to me," Artair argued, his tone becoming increasingly desperate. "Kyra..."

"Oh, so _Kyra_ told you not to tell us?" Astrid cut in, her storm-blue eyes flashing. I was still struggling to grasp that I was Hiccup's niece. "Is that it?"

"Astrid," Hiccup cut across calmly. I was anything but calm but I tried to keep my temper under control – it was difficult.

"No, she didn't," Artair replied, a pleading croak resounding in his throat. "All she said was that she was going to disappear. She vanished during the Battle of the Burning Moon and I never saw her again, okay?"

"Listen, we know that we weren't supposed to let anyone know that Ember was living with us," Hiccup explained. "Did it ever cross your mind to tell us who she was?"

"We spent ages not knowing why she had to stay hidden whenever the Berserkers came round for the treaty signings!" Flint pointed out, taking his dad's side. I was still silent with shock at what was going on. "You knew – all those times Dad saw you at the annual Chief-Meet and you never told him?!"

"It never came up and, like I said, I couldn't," Artair repeated. "If I could've done, I..."

"Don't give us the 'if I could've done I would've' excuse," Astrid huffed. "_Why_ couldn't you tell us?"

"Yeah," I piped up, my voice cracking as if it didn't want to speak. "You could have at least let _me_ know! I've spent my entire life not knowing where I came from and why I had to keep out of sight!"

"Ember has a point, Artair," Hiccup noted, crossing his arms. "If anyone had the right to know her heritage, it's her. Why didn't you send as much as a letter?" Artair kept his mouth shut, glaring at his fellow chief. I caught onto what the silence meant and so did my adoptive father...no, my _uncle_. "You didn't trust anyone to stay quiet, did you?" Hiccup murmured in dark realisation.

"It's nothing like that Hiccup," Artair protested.

"What was it then? Did you not trust any news to reach _only_ us?" Hiccup growled. Flint and I shrank back – this growl was a sign that Hiccup was about to lose his temper and you did _not_ want to be in the room when that happened. "You're the one who always says you're all about trust!"

"Hiccup! You don't understand!" Artair argued.

"_Don't_ tell me what I do and do not understand!" Hiccup snapped before I had a chance to speak in retaliation – again, with the 'keep Ember safe' thing. It wasn't like I couldn't take care of myself...okay, that episode with the Berserkers may have given them reason, I could see that. "It's not _me_, okay? The fact is that you left your own kid in the dark her entire life without so much as a 'Hope to see you again someday'. It's like you didn't even trust _her_!" Artair looked staggered and I knew why – he was trying to explain himself but Hiccup was so angry he wasn't letting the guy speak.

"Em...please..." he whispered, his hazel eyes filled with desperation. He walked towards me but I backed off towards the door – he might have been my father but what he'd done to me...I couldn't understand him at this point.

"Don't touch me," I mumbled as he tried to place a hand on my shoulder. I instantly regretted it - this wasn't me.

"Please, if I'd..." he trailed off. "Kyra and I only had your best interests..." That was it.

"_My_ best interests at heart?!" I asked, finishing the man's sentence for him with my green-yellow eyes flashing. "Do you even know what my best interests are?! Did you think that leaving me to be brought up on the other side of the Archipelago with people who you felt you couldn't trust with the entire story was _my best interest_?!" My voice was rising in volume with each sentence so I took a few moments to calm myself down – I couldn't over-react here. That wouldn't help anyone.

"Ember, listen to me..." Artair stammered. Even Hiccup and Astrid had taken a few steps backward towards the fireplace, taken aback by my sudden outburst.

"Sorry..." I whispered, handing the parchment displaying the picture of my real family back to Artair who took it with shaking hands. "It's...it's just a lot to take in..."

"Ember...I'm sorry..." Artair muttered sadly. "I...I never wanted..."

"Can I have a moment alone, please?" I interrupted, looking around the room. Flint still looked stunned, Hiccup looked as if he was going to explode any second, Astrid looked frustrated and Artair looked upset and almost pleading – I knew he wanted forgiveness but I wasn't entirely sure. I needed some time to think.

"Okay," Artair murmured. Behind him, Hiccup nodded slowly so I headed outside of the house before pelting towards the woods nearby as fast as my legs could carry me.

/\

Once Ember was out of the house, everything remained silent for a few moments as Artair looked at his family's portrait sadly. Flint rubbed his arm awkwardly and Astrid crossed her arms nervously. Everything stayed quiet until Hiccup whipped his head around and glared at his brother-in-law with such anger it was a miracle the chief of the Meatheads didn't drop dead there and then.

"Never thought you'd turn out to be such a hypocrite, Artair," Hiccup growled.

"Oh, that's how you see it?!" Artair snapped. "I'm trying to tell you, Skull-Head, I didn't..."

"Trying to explain isn't gonna cut it right now, okay?!" Hiccup snapped.

"Would you let me finish?! I thought you were more reasonable than this!" Artair retaliated. "Even Ember took it better than you are!"

"You could have...OW!" Hiccup yelped at the same time as Artair when Astrid's fists became familiar with the backs of their heads. "Jeeze! What was that for?"

"Is arguing over this really going to help Em?" Astrid glowered as the men nursed the backs of their heads. "Listen, Hiccup – I get you're angry at Artair. So am I," Astrid continued with a huff. "Artair, I can understand why you didn't send any news," she added.

"But..." Hiccup tried to cut across before Astrid punched his shoulder – even with his leather riding armour on it still hurt.

"Letters can be intercepted," she pointed out. "And bribes can be made," she added sadly. Artair still looked as if he'd been trying to say something else. Flint still looked frustrated.

"Still doesn't mean he couldn't have told Dad," he pointed out. Astrid knew her son had a point on that one and agreed – why had Artair not told Hiccup? It was as if he hadn't trusted him.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Artair huffed when this was pointed out. "I..."

"No, not okay," Astrid interrupted. "'Sorry' isn't gonna cut it right now...at least with Hiccup.

"Yeah, I'm still mad," Hiccup huffed. "Even if Ember's not..."

"Dad, she's shocked, okay?" Flint shrugged cautiously. "I mean, it's not every day you find out you're the daughter of your adopted parents' extended family in another tribe." Hiccup nodded and began walking to the door, opening it and heading outside.

"Where're you going?" Astrid asked.

"I'm going to find Ember," Hiccup explained. "We'll head back to Berk once I do."

"All of you?" Artair asked. Hiccup glared at him – had the man _expected_ any of them to stay after that exchange?

"Yes, _all_ of us," he confirmed, growling as he did. "Ember can decide what she wants to do next."

/\

I skid to a halt behind a pine tree and began breathing heavily. Okay, first off, I hadn't been expecting to find out that I was the firstborn child of the Meathead Tribe the day after the whole fiasco with the bandit and the Berserkers. Second, I hadn't even expected to find out that _one_ of my parents was not only alive but had also deliberately stayed away from me and for what? 'To keep me safe'? I spat at the phrase – my entire I'd put up with more protection than Flint! For a long time, I'd dealt with it, hoping that it would stop once I was older – and in truth it had lessened recently – but to have it come from someone I didn't know who thought they were doing what was best for me? That infuriated me.

"Okay, Em...calm down...this isn't helping..." I mumbled, tearing the hairpin out of my hair and letting my fringe fall back into place. "Calm down..." I trailed off, staring blankly at the accessory – Artair had recognised it and it had been in the box my mother, Kyra, had left me. No doubt it had belonged to her at one point. I couldn't bring myself to feel angry at her or, surprisingly enough, my father.

True, the Meathead Chief had had plenty of opportunities to let me know that he was my father and yet he hadn't but Artair was known to be a cautious man...he was right. Everyone had to be careful in the world of the Vikings – even in your own village there could be a weasel among the rats. I was irritated at Artair, yes...but I was too shocked to be angry. Also there had been something about Artair when he'd seen me. He looked shocked...true he probably hadn't been expecting to see me but it was the shock that comes from a person who doesn't expect to see someone alive. He'd been trying to say something else to Hiccup...that it wasn't down to trust issues that he hadn't said anything...what were his reasons though?

My mother, on the other hand, truly couldn't have told me. I might have been the only one to know why – she'd explained it in her letter to me. The Berserkers had been after her on the night of the Battle of the Burning Moon as well as me, although for what reason neither of us knew, so for the first few years of my life at least, she would have been in hiding. She couldn't have risked sending another letter and it would have been too dangerous for her to come out into the open. The later years of my life...she could have been captured and killed for all I knew. I couldn't feel angry at her.

"What do I do, Mum?" I whispered, as if she could hear me. The snapping of a twig brought me out of my brooding and I instantly felt the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end. I stood up and backed away from the pine tree I had been hiding behind in apprehension, clutching the hairpin tightly.

"Ember?!" a familiar voice shouted through the trees. I relaxed – it was just Hiccup. I didn't go running off in the direction of his voice straight away though – I wasn't in a mood to go see anyone right now and instead I would prefer to be found...

"MMMPH!" I squeaked as something clamped over my mouth. It was rough and clammy and my back slammed against something that felt like metal as my hands flew up to my mouth, clawing at whatever was gagging my scream. Whatever had gotten the jump on me, it was clearly human...another hand had just pinned my arms behind my back as I struggled to free myself.

"Right, we got her this time!" a snivelling voice sounded behind me. I froze – I recognised that voice. "Someone go take care of Haddock – he's close."

"Mm-mmm-mm-mmph!" I squeaked in protest, trying to open my mouth wide enough to bite but the hand was too tightly clamped over my mouth for me to even move my jaw. I resumed my struggling as I recognised the crest on my captors' armour – a Skrill, the insignia of the Berserkers and the one who had me in his grip – Dagur the Deranged.

"Step on it!" Dagur snapped as a couple of his men darted off into the trees...towards my uncle...I squirmed and squealed even harder, desperate to warn Hiccup of what he was walking into... "You, shut up!" Dagur hissed, bending my arm backwards so much it was a miracle that I didn't hear a snap. "You and your old lady have caused us enough trouble as it is!" he growled into my ear. I felt a lock of hair move away from my ear and I shuddered to think how that happened.

Fighting past my terror as Dagur breathed down my neck, I somehow managed to open my mouth wide enough to get my teeth free and, with all the might I could muster, I clammed my jaws shut around a fleshy palm.

"YARGH!" Dagur yelped, whipping his hand away from my face. I spat what looked suspiciously like blood to the floor before letting out a piercing shriek.

"PA!" I screeched. The next thing I knew, the world blacked out as something blunt hit the back of my head.

/\

"Ember?!" Hiccup called as he walked through the forest at the bottom of the cliff by Artair's house. Ember couldn't have gone too far in – she knew better than to go running too far off into a place she was completely unfamiliar with. Then again, the poor teenager had just had a shocking first meeting with her real father – Hiccup himself couldn't quite forgive Artair for what he'd done – so it was likely that she might not want to be found for a while. Hiccup knew that it would be best for them all to go back to Berk for now, even so.

"Em? Where are...?" he called again when something snapped behind him and seconds later...

"PA!" a shriek sounded from further into the trees. Hiccup's forest-green eyes widened with terror – that had been Ember's voice.

"EMBER!" he yelled, unsheathing Inferno and making a run in the direction of his niece's scream before something hit him sharply on the back of the head. Hiccup's vision swam for a bit as he collapsed to the forest floor but not before he'd seen what looked distinctly like two men run off into the shadows of the branches.

* * *

**Well, _now_ we're getting some action. Hopefully things should pick up a little bit from here on out. Also, keep an eye out for an old character or two coming up in the next few chapters! See you tomorrow for a new _Ablaze_ update.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: Just Like their Mothers...**

"Dad?" Flint called later that afternoon when his father and...cousin, he guessed her should start calling Ember now...somehow it felt awkward...failed to return to the Godrikson household. Astrid had started getting worried so Flint had offered to look for them so that they could at least have a hope of getting home before nightfall – given that it was early summer, daylight hours were still fairly long so it shouldn't be too bad regardless.

Even so, it wasn't like Hiccup or Ember to be gone this long unless Hiccup was out chief-ing and Ember was doing some emergency hunting. Flint knew that his mother had cause to worry, and so did he.

"Dad!" he shouted, entering the forest. He hadn't gone too far in when he heard a groan that sounded familiar to one that he sometimes heard in the mornings in between the sounds of Toothless threatening to make another hole in the roof. "Dad!" Flint yelped slightly when he rounded a tree to see his father face down on the forest floor.

"Ugh...Flint?" Hiccup groaned, his eyes fluttering open slowly as he pushed himself upwards. Flint rushed over to help the man, supporting him with a strength that was rare even for a Viking teenager.

"You okay? What happened?" he asked worriedly. Hiccup moaned slightly as he sat upright and nursed his head. "Okay, who or what got the jump on you?" Flint huffed, his eyes narrowing cynically.

"I dunno..." Hiccup mumbled, rubbing the back of his head where he was sure a large bruise was starting to form under his dark auburn hair. "Didn't get a good look at them..." He paused. "Whatever you do, please don't mention this to your mother," he begged weakly. Flint gave his father a look.

"You know it's gonna come up anyway," he pointed out dryly. "Where's Em?" he asked nervously, darting his blue gaze around the near vicinity. Hiccup suddenly shot upright.

"Oh, gods...Ember!" he exclaimed, leaping to his feet and shooting his forest-green gaze everywhere. "Oh, gods...she screamed...then that was when..."

"Dad! What happened?!" Flint shouted, trying to get his father to calm down. Hiccup stopped spinning like a top but his face was still brimming with fear and his eyes were wider than coins.

"Flint, get your mother," he ordered, rushing further into the woods. Flint huffed and followed rather than heading back to his uncle.

"That doesn't answer my question, Dad!" he protested, jogging to keep up with his six-foot-one father and then slamming into the man when he suddenly came to a halt. "OW! Bit of warning next time..." he mumbled but frowned when Hiccup didn't respond. "Uh...Dad?" Hiccup knelt down slowly and picked a tiny object off the forest floor – Flint caught a glimpse of emerald-green and froze. "That's..."

"Ember's hairpin," Hiccup confirmed, glancing at the floor – faintly in the mud, he could make out human footprints. "Flint," he started, turning to look at his son but Flint was already nodding.

"I'll get Mom," the boy decided as he began running back towards Artair's house to fetch Astrid and the dragons. Hiccup began following the footprints through the forest, using Inferno to give himself some light in the darker areas before he came out to the beach on the other side of the islands. The tracks went out into the sand for a small distance but then faded at the shoreline so Hiccup unhooked a telescope from his flight suit and scanned the horizon.

"Come on, where are you?" he muttered to himself, knowing that whoever had taken Ember couldn't have gotten that far (not that he was sure how long he'd been out for but it couldn't have been that long – it didn't take much for his family to start worrying about him). Squinting against the summer sunshine, he could just about spot a Berserker ship in the distance with a rowboat just pulling up to it. "Gotcha," Hiccup hissed, setting a bearing into his compass before waiting for his wife and son to show. He didn't have to wait long.

"How many times do I have to tell you? _Take Toothless with you so that no one gets the jump on you_!" Astrid snapped irritably as she flew overhead on Stormfly and Toothless came bounding through the trees. Hiccup swung himself onto the dragon as he ran down towards the water and sent him into the air before he could get his paws wet.

"I thought I told you not to tell her!" Hiccup huffed at Flint who was flying a short distance behind on Starlight – Pondskater was merely feet behind her and Iona was also tagging along on Sunset.

"And _I_ told you that it would come up anyway, which it did!" Flint argued.

"Just like his mother..." Hiccup mumbled, grateful Astrid was out of earshot.

"Which way were they headed?" Flint yelled before Hiccup could tell him off any further.

"Due north-east," Hiccup explained. "We can catch them up – the wind's good and it's given them a head-start but it gives us an advantage as well as them – the tail wind should boost the dragons' speed a little."

"Right!" Astrid saluted, fishing one remaining chicken leg from her bag and tossing it into Stormfly's mouth to give her an extra boost of energy. Hiccup couldn't help but roll his eyes – chicken was really the only way Astrid and Stormfly had _ever_ been able to match his and Toothless' speed.

/\

My eyes fluttered open but it made no difference – I couldn't see anything. All I could tell about my current situation was that my hands were tied roughly and tightly behind my back, my ankles were bound together and I had a gag on...the smell of it _made_ me gag. As my focus sharpened, I was starting to be able to figure some other things out – through the disgusting smell of the cloth preventing me from screaming multiple cusses that I'd picked up from Astrid over the years, I could smell salt, rusty metal and rotting wood. Clearly I was on a ship of some kind which I wasn't overly pleased about – never mind _clearly_ being a captive on this thing, I got horribly seasick which is why I'd always gone everywhere by a dragon, if I went anywhere at all (the last time I'd been on a boat was on a fishing trip with Hiccup and Flint when I was six and trust me, that hadn't ended well for anyone).

_Berserkers_, I thought to myself. Who else could it be? I mean, I'd been personally ambushed by Dagur and his flunkies back on the Meathead Isles so it made sense in my head. I strained my hearing, trying to pick out any familiar voices among the chatter going on around me – I took a hazard guess that no one had noticed that I'd come to yet and I wanted it to stay that way for as long as humanely possible (I closed my eyes just in case – the triplets swear to Thor that my eyes glow in the dark). My luck paid out.

"...we still get what we agreed on, right?" someone sneered. It was Dagur – I'd only heard his voice a couple of times but I could pick him out in a chorus of out-of-tune Gronkles. "We get the thief, you get the kid?"

"I'm fairly sure that we agreed _equal shares_," another voice piped up. This one was new and judging by the state of the ship and what I'd heard from Hiccup going over Archipelago reports, I was in the hold of a pirate ship. "You give us the bandit woman _and that brat_ and in return, you have us as your allies."

"Meh, I still don't think that's exactly an 'equal share'," Dagur growled dryly. I stiffened – I was part of some deal? They were talking about that bandit again but what did she have to do with anything? Okay, I knew that the Berserkers were after her because she'd been giving them trouble especially with supplies but why were these pirates after her? "I don't see why you want that squirt anyway – she was easy pickings compared to Lady One Eye." I tried to hide an intake of offence but my trouble was that I had never been that indiscreet.

"Ah, nice of you to rejoin the living," the new voice smirked. I had so many dry comebacks and insults to throw at the guy but considering that I had the most vile thing preventing me from talking at that moment I decided to keep a mental note of them so that I could use them later once I had my mouth free of that disgusting gag. I growled instead.

"Heh...just like her old lady," Dagur snickered. My eyes widened in a mixture of curiosity and worry – my 'old lady'? That had to be my mother...Kyra the Dragon Shifter. "Though compared to her, you didn't exactly give us much of a challenge...OW!" he yelled as my feet lashed out and came into perfect contact with his shins – I was mildly amazed that he'd felt it under his armour, although mostly I was feeling smug that it had worked. All I earned in return was a kick to the stomach.

"Mmmph!" I grunted as the metal-capped boot hit me square in the chest. I tried not to let the pain show but I couldn't stop a single tear escape from my green-yellow eye. Thankfully it didn't show in the dim light of the brig (I assumed that was where we were).

"If you want to keep your limbs intact, I suggest you keep still and keep quiet," the pirate snarled. I glared at him through the darkness – yeah, I wanted my limbs intact and right now I wanted nothing more than to give him a battle wound to match my uncle's...gods, it felt weird calling Hiccup that. "And I wouldn't be expecting any help from your..._adopted_...family anytime soon." That made me fall silent – why would he say that? The dragons could out-fly any ship!

/\

"How in Thor's name did they pull that one off?!" Flint roared as he and Starlight shot out the other side of the Berserker ship. They'd interrogated every Berserker on board but had found no sign of Ember. Astrid was still questioning some as axe edge whilst Hiccup was scanning the surrounding area.

"I don't get it," the man huffed, slamming his telescope together. "How does a Berserker ship outrun our dragons?"

_THUD_

"Astrid, I thought we agreed to..." Hiccup mumbled as Astrid joined him, Flint and Iona in the air on Stormfly.

"I knocked them out," Astrid interrupted. "No decaps – don't worry. Anyway, a Berserker ship _didn't_ outrun our dragons," she added.

"What's that mean?" Iona asked from Sunset who was hovering nervously near her mother.

"We were chasing the wrong trail," Astrid explained, pointing into the distance. Hiccup squinted against the sunshine and could just pick out the outline of another ship – squinting through his telescope, he recognised the flag as a pirate insignia. "Those Berserkers back on the ship just fessed up to an alliance with those jerks."

"I wouldn't take the pirates so lightly," Hiccup grimaced, slotting his telescope back next to Inferno. "There's a reason the tribes get worried every time they're seen in the Archipelago."

"Everyone except the Berserkers, it seems," Iona pointed out worriedly. "If Ember's on board that ship, we can easily..."

"Pirates are known for their anti-dragons defences," Flint winced from Starlight. Pondskater was becoming increasingly agitated. "Catapults, bolas...you name it, they're some of the best dragon trappers around here."

"But we've got four Night Furies," Iona pointed out.

"One of which is still a hatchling," Hiccup reminded the girl, earning a snort from Pondskater in protest. "You're three, Skates!" Hiccup pointed out. Pondskater pouted – he might be strong enough to fly as far and fast as any Night Fury but he was still technically a toddler despite whatever his dad said about dragon's maturing quickly and he wasn't nearly as strong in combat as his parents and older sister. "Besides, with only two types of dragons, they'll pick us off like flies."

"Should we get the others, then?" Flint asked. Hiccup nodded.

"The more dragon types we have, the better," he noted. "We can switch strategies a lot more..."

"And that should prevent the pirates from coming up with a counter!" Astrid grinned. "Iona, get your parents," she instructed.

"Where should we rendezvous?" Iona asked, turning Sunset back towards the Meathead Isles.

"Meet us on the island you found us on earlier," Hiccup suggested before turning to face Astrid. "Astrid, you head back to Berk and get the others." Astrid nodded and shot off with Stormfly towards Berk. "Flint, you and I are going tracking," Hiccup added.

"Got it," Flint replied as Pondskater squeaked pitifully. "Skates, you go with Mom," he murmured gently. "They'll get the urgency then."

Reluctantly the young Night Fury sped off after Astrid and Stormfly, leaving the two male Haddocks and their Night Furies to head off in search of the missing Ember.

/\

I kept my ears out for anything that would be useful to know later. Well, apart from the fact that Dagur the Deranged was in an alliance with pirates..._how_ he'd managed that one I doubt I'll ever know. I was able to find out from the mumblings of a deck swabbie that apparently these particular pirates themselves were in fact the outcasts of the Outcast tribe that I'd heard about...wow, so bad even Alvin the Treacherous couldn't stand them? I had a hazard guess that the Battle of the Burning Moon and the war around that time had something to do with it.

"Yeesh...the boss makes Alvin seem reasonable..." the man mumbled to himself as he recoated the deck in a vile smelling liquid – I think it was tar or something, Hiccup mentioned something about it slowing the wood-rotting process. I couldn't ask the guy anything given that the gag was still around my mouth but to be perfectly honest I had a feeling that I would learn the most right now by keeping my mouth shut and my ears open. Interrogation would get me nowhere anyway – I wasn't exactly the most imposing of people when put up against Berserkers and Pirates. But whoever the captain of the Pirates was, they had to be pretty darn awful to make Alvin the Treacherous appear decent.

_For the gods' sake, guys..._ I thought to myself. _Where are you?_ I wasn't one to be scared easily but I was admittedly terrified.

The boat jolted to a halt before I could wallow in regret any longer and judging by the way I was thrown backwards against the side of the hull, I took a hazard guess that we'd come into port. Dagur showing up confirmed my suspicions.

"Keep quiet and no squirming," he snarled, hoisting me up by the scruff of my neck and holding a dagger to my throat. I caught my breath but managed to catch a good look at the weapon – it was a silver blade with a golden hilt made in the design of two entwining dragons and with small gems decorating it sparingly. It was a beautiful weapon but not one that I felt Dagur had gotten honestly. Rather than risk me regaining the ability to kick and run, the man ignored the rope binding my ankles together and began dragging me out of the hull – guess the guy had _some_ sense after all. The light outside the ship's brig blinded me for a moment but it was far from bright outside – the sky was overcast and gloomy and the sea around the island I'd found myself brought to was dark grey and foaming. The island was no better.

"About time, Dagur," a gravelly voice sounded from the docks. Dagur was dragging me behind him so I couldn't catch a glimpse of the person but their voice made me shiver. Despite the raspy tone, I had a sneaking suspicion that the voice was female and also quite elderly...dammit, I was in trouble. The way Dagur stopped in his tracks also made me nervous – if someone had the ability to send _this_ lunatic quaking in his armour, I knew I had reason to be scared. "After twelve years, I was beginning to think you weren't going to hold up your end of the bargain."

"Hey, I thought we told you that we thought she was dead, okay?" Dagur protested rather pathetically. "We literally found this kid the other day – her old lady did a good job of covering her tracks..."

"And it would appear that this one has a knack for keeping herself out of sight as well," the voice growled back. "You said you found her on Berk?" Silence told me that maybe Dagur didn't answer or simply nodded his head. "Well, then she was rather well hidden if you never saw her on...how many was it? At least twelve treaty renewals?"

Another silence followed but I was too terrified by the tone of the woman's voice to struggle. The woman continued.

"We'll discuss our terms later," she snarled. "For now take the girl to the fort – make sure the woman sees." Dagur suddenly whirled me in front of him and I caught my first look at his...I guess I should say boss.

It was, indeed, a rather elderly looking woman with wild grey hair but she was more terrifying than anyone I'd ever had the misfortune to lay my eyes on. Her eyes were dark and beady and her nose crooked – it wasn't long or that big but it was very birdlike in appearance. She carried a staff, most likely as some form of support but I felt that she was capable of using it as a weapon as well. While her appearance would initially only suggest 'cranky old lady', there was something else that sent a shiver up and down my spine as I was dragged off but not before I caught the woman say one last thing.

"Just like her mother..."

* * *

**And so the 'Big Bad' of the story gets introduced. Let's see if any of you can guess this lady's name - I'll give you guys a hint as it's a bit obscure. It is the name of one of the villains from the book series. Also, virtual cookies to those who guess the character who will be making an appearance next chapter! See you tomorrow with the next _Ablaze_ update and next Saturday with the next chapter of this story.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: Reunions**

It was sunset before the Defenders of Berk, including Iona and her mother, rendezvoused back at the agreed meet-up point midway between Berk and the Meathead Isles. They'd been searching the Archipelago all afternoon and there still hadn't been any sign of Ember or the Berserkers apart from the ship Hiccup and his family had been tricked into following earlier.

"We've been searching for hours! No one's seen anything," Ruffnut complained.

"How does any ship cross through these islands unnoticed?" Scalene wondered nervously.

"Either it was a ship riddled with Changewings or it's a ship no one wants to notice?" Flint suggested on a whim. Hiccup frowned – his son had a legitimate point. If an island didn't want to notice a ship, all it would have to do is claim that they hadn't seen it if anyone came asking. And it wasn't like anyone wanted to be associated with pirates in any way, shape or form.

"We don't have time to go around the entire Archipelago again," Astrid pointed out. "If we're gonna find Ember we're gonna need to find her fast."

"I get that, Astrid," Hiccup mumbled. A Deadly Nadder caw sounded from above – Hiccup blinked in surprise to see Venom arrive with Artair. "What're you doing here?" he asked, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice.

"Simple," Artair replied bluntly. "I'm helping you find my daughter. I think I've shirked this longer than I should have done." Astrid cut in with a "Thank you" before Hiccup could make another spiteful remark at his brother-in-law. "Besides, I might be able to help."

"Great, we need it," Snotlout huffed from Hookfang's back. Wow...never thought that guy would ever admit to needing help. Hiccup stayed silent but nodded at Artair to continue.

"It's not just the Berserkers who were after Ember and Kyra," the Meathead chief explained. "You remember there were some Outcast-turned-pirate Vikings in the war as well?" Everyone shuddered – they knew alright. "That might be our best port of call."

"Do we really think that looking for _outcast _Outcasts is the best idea, Chief?" Iona squeaked nervously next to her mother. Heather, on the other hand, quickly caught on.

"I think he means _the_ Outcast Tribe, Iona," she explained. Artair nodded in confirmation and Hiccup saw the man's point. The Hooligans and Outcasts had struck an alliance a while ago (Kyra had been absent but she detested the Outcasts anyway and so paid little heed to the alliance) and so any inside information on where the cast out members of that tribe might have gone would prove invaluable, possibly even vital, to finding Ember safely.

"So, wait, we're pulling the Treacherous into this as well?" Stone frowned.

"How's the guy still standing?" Sticks added quickly.

"Well, the man's the same age as Stoick," Fishlegs pointed out.

"Yeah – the Vast is still kicking, no reason why the Treacherous wouldn't be...OW!" Spitface yelped as a rock came into contact with his helmet. "FLINT!"

"Huh? Did someone say my name?" Flint muttered scornfully, glaring at Spitface.

"Kids," Hiccup growled warningly. The last thing he needed right now was Flint and Spitface fighting amongst each other again – however he didn't particularly fancy sending them home either given that the more dragons and riders there were on the rescue team, the better chance they had on getting Ember to safety faster. "Good thinking, Artair," he nodded curtly. "You, Heather, Iona and us lot will head over to Outcast Island and ask Alvin about the exiles," he decided, indicating his family. "Lout, Legs, twins – you and your kids take another round of the Berserker Islands, see if we missed anything."

"On it!" the gang chorused as they split off into their allotted groups. Once they were in the air, Artair flew up alongside Toothless and Hiccup – the Hooligan Chief was still avoiding eye contact.

"Hiccup, I told you I was sorry!" he pleaded.

"I know," Hiccup replied shortly, snapping his flying mask down over his face. Astrid cleared her throat sharply which made the man turn his head to look at her. "What?!"

"Would you drop that?" Astrid huffed. "That is _no_ way to treat your brother-in-law!" Hiccup muttered something under his breath but kept his mask down over his face.

"Hiccup, I know I messed up as a dad, okay?" Artair sighed. "I want to help Ember – isn't that enough to at least _try to start _making it up to her?" Hiccup turned his head slightly so that his forest-green eyes under his mask met Artair's hazel-brown ones.

"I'll agree it's a start but you've got _a lot_ more to do than that once we get her out," he noted snappishly. "I just don't get _why_ you never let me know..."

"Kyra never told me that she was still alive!" Artair snapped, cutting Hiccup off. Toothless spat out a plasma blast in shock, Heather cried out in confusion (as did Iona), Flint doubled forward on Starlight and Astrid got whiplash from turning her head so quickly. Hiccup lifted his mask up and looked at his brother-in-law eye to eye.

"Kyra...what?" he muttered. Artair bit his lip and broke eye contact for a moment.

"During the Battle of the Blazing Moon, Kyra told me that for some reason the Berserkers and pirates were after her and Ember – she didn't know why," he explained. "Ember was only a few days old at the time...Kyra said it would be best for them both to disappear."

"She said 'no contact'?" Hiccup guessed, his eyes narrowing in grief at the subject of the sister who, once again, he hadn't seen in twelve years. Artair nodded, his black hair, greying slightly in places already and swept back by the wind, betraying the tears forming in his eyes.

"She just took Ember and ran," he explained softly. "I never said anything for a few months – I didn't know who to trust...there'd been..."

"Spies everywhere," Astrid finished for him. "We know." Artair cut to the chase.

"Anyway, I was only expecting her to be gone for half a year at most," he continued. "You know how tough she is and even with a baby I thought..." he stopped. Flint knew what was coming.

"Aunt Kyra never resurfaced, did she?" he asked.

"And it was a year after the battle that Johan brought Ember to Berk," Hiccup pieced together, looking at Artair. "You had no idea?" Artair shook his head.

"As far as I was aware my wife and daughter were dead. When you showed up with Ember I didn't want to believe it was her," he half-whispered. "And then when you asked about her parentage..." he faltered off but Hiccup was far less angry at him than he'd been before.

"Save it for later," he suggested. "We'll get Ember out of wherever she is and then we can sort things out." Artair nodded in agreement – they could worry about this later. Right now, the priority was finding Ember.

/\

I squirmed the best as I could as I was dragged through the dimly lit corridors of the pirates' hideout. I was making more noise than I thought a gagged person was capable of making and, if I'm being honest here, I'm surprised they didn't knock me senseless after five minutes. Granted, Dagur _had_ suggested it at one point because he said I was proving a nuisance but one of the pirates said their leader (I found out that her name was Excellinor) wanted me to be fully conscious for what was coming up. I could only assume that it involved the woman they'd mentioned – the bandit. What was it about the both of us that these guys wanted?

"MMPH!" I grunted, kicking out trying to connect my feet with someone's shins again but it only served to bash my heels on the floor – luckily my boots prevented me from scraping anything but I wouldn't be surprised if I came up with bruised heels or something. That time, however, I did get clubbed round the head by one of the pirates.

"Okay, I _know_ the boss said she wanted you kicking," he snarled. I barfed under the gag – his breath _reeked_. "But unless you _want_ to keep your skull intact I suggest you don't take that literally."

"You'd make a good Berserker," Dagur chuckled softly but I was too busy hoping that my nose wasn't bleeding to look up to see the pirate's response – he didn't say anything but there was an uncomfortable silence that followed. Said silence continued as I was too dazed from the blow to struggle too much anymore. I lost track of how many corridors we passed down when Dagur rammed into the pirate leading us through. "Why're we...?" he began before... "Oh," he scoffed. "She looked better with the mask on."

The bandit. It had to be. Why had we stopped there? I felt myself being grabbed by the scruff of the neck and yanked away from Dagur – I was now staring right into one of the pirates' faces but I couldn't see whatever was behind him – I guessed it was a cell...were they going to throw me in with the bandit? They'd wanted the both of us...

"Well, well, well," Dagur snickered next to us, striding cockily over to the cell. I hear a faint growl but it wasn't a typical angry growl from a person – this sounded like a dragon snarl. "Looks like your little game of hide 'n' seek didn't quite go to plan, eh?"

"What are you talking about?" I heard the raspy voice of the bandit. "You got me, isn't that enough for you?" she snapped. "You can tell that witch for the hundredth time, I will not...!"

"Maybe," the pirate holding me by the scruff of my neck smirked darkly, not turning around. "But, you know something, _Goddess of Dragons..._" Wait, what? My eyes widened at that – the Goddess of Dragons had been incarnated in human form, hadn't she? Hiccup used to tell me and Flint the story when we were small – it was my favourite growing up. Hadn't it been...? "The boss reckons you'll reconsider when you meet our new guest," he added cruelly, turning around to face the cell and holding me in front of him – that was when I got my first look of the bandit who'd saved me from the Berserkers the other day without her mask on.

She was a young woman of around thirty, as I'd predicted, with an oval-shaped face that looked remarkably like Hiccup's. Her hair, short and roughly cut with a single braid hanging down one side of her head and her bangs swept wildly over her left eye, was the same dark auburn brown as my uncle's and her visible right eye was the same shade of emerald-green. Her face was freckled and framed with what looked like flame-shaped birthmarks that circled her eyes and were barely visibly on her jaw. Around her neck, barely visible under her short travelling cape, was a simple pendant inlaid with a pink gem. When she turned her attention to me, she staggered backwards over her shackles and chains, shrieking in terror as her eyes went wider than coins and her left eye became visible...it was the same shape and colour as a Night Fury's eye. She'd certainly changed since whenever the portrait sketch had been done but even I could see who this woman was.

Dragon Shifter Valkyra 'the Ablaze' Godrikson. My mother.

"NO!" she screeched, scrambling forwards as if to charge at Dagur and the pirates holding me captive but her shackles yanked her backwards, preventing her from moving more than five feet from the wall of the cell. "YOU LET HER GO, YOU...!"

"Fancy having a rethink?" Dagur scoffed. I struggled in the pirate's grip and screamed under my gag...this might have been the first time I'd ever seen her but I felt a longing to run over to my mother...comfort her...let her know I was okay...

"Let her go, or I swear I'll...!" Kyra growled, her voice still raspy like it had been before but it was combined with the raspy growl of a dragon...I remembered that the winged reptiles were extremely protective of their young and something told me that now she knew I was here, Kyra's dragon maternal instincts were kicking in like crazy.

"What? Spit a fireball at us?" the pirate sneered. "We _know_ you're tired, Shifter. It's your own fault for not using your abilities for such a long time." Kyra hissed and still struggled against her shackles in an attempt to reach me and I thrashed as much as my bonds would allow me but both our attempts were fruitless. "Like I said, if you want your kid to keep her head, Excellinor suggests that you rethink her offer," the pirate suggested darkly, tossing my back to Dagur before he began leading us down the corridor again, away from my mother who was screaming loud enough to possibly wake up people on the other side of the island.

/\

"Presenting Chief Hiccup the Dragon Conquer..."

"*A_hem_*!"

"Sorry...Trainer of Berk and company!" Savage the Outcast announced as Hiccup and his team came into land on the shores of Outcast Island. The place was hardly welcoming but since the Outcasts and the Hooligans had struck an alliance, at least visits were a little better than before (again, not something Hiccup liked to think about). Hiccup removed his riding helmet as he dismounted Toothless before he began walking over to Alvin the Treacherous – the man was still a giant in comparison to the Hooligan chief but, at the same age as Stoick, he was coming along a bit in years and his matted hair, once jet black, was streaked with silver.

"Well, well, well, Hiccup," Alvin greeted in his usual gravelly tone. "Long time, no see."

"Sorry about the short notice," Hiccup apologised. He tolerated Alvin at best – it wasn't as if the two tribes were best buddies _especially_ considering what had happened sixteen years ago (Hiccup had never quite forgiven the Outcasts for that) – but they got along cordially enough to avoid arguments. "I was wondering if you could help us out with something."

Alvin nodded and made a motion for the party to follow him to the Outcasts' meeting hall. The dragons stuck close by and Hiccup and co. all kept one hand close to a weapon, just in case – things were known to get rough on Outcast Island and as Vikings, the occasional skirmish was an occupational hazard anyway so most travellers always kept at least a dagger on their person at all times. Flint and Astrid had their axes slung over their shoulders after unhooking them from their dragons' saddles, Iona and Heather both had a knife concealed in a pocket; and Artair and Hiccup as usual had their blades within reach. Flint glanced over at Iona and winced at how uneasy she looked – her expression matched her mother's. Of course, Heather had never been on good terms with the Outcasts so Flint could only guess that Iona had been told about Heather's experiences and had drawn conclusions from that.

Once in the hall, Hiccup's party gathered around the centre table whilst Alvin sat down in a chair near the fire.

"So, what was it you wanted, Hiccup?" the man grunted. Artair bristled next to his brother-in-law but Hiccup remained calm.

"We're looking for something...more specifically, someone," he replied. "We've got reason to think that pirates might have something to do with it." Alvin paused as a moment of deadly silence passed.

"And you come to me because?" he inquired quietly. Astrid stepped in.

"We know that exiled Outcasts are among the pirate population," she pointed out.

"So?"

"We were hoping you would know their headquarters," Artair cut in quickly. Hiccup glanced over at him and could see the nerves wracking the man's body – he really wanted to find Ember and fast. Hiccup felt bad for being mad at him now...

"And why do you think I would know?" Alvin growled.

"You've got to send your exiles somewhere," Heather hissed quietly. "Where's the island?" she asked bluntly. Hiccup was glad he'd brought Heather along – she didn't skip around corners when it came to getting things done. Alvin chuckled wryly at the question.

"Well, if you want to know then there's got to be something in it for me," he noted. "I'm not getting involved with a venture involving my old lady unless I know I'm going to benefit."

"Wait...'old lady'?" Iona spluttered. Flint's jaw also dropped.

"You...you mean your _mother_?!" he blurted out. The adults looked every bit as surprised as the kids did – okay, one: Alvin's mother was still _standing_? Second: _she was involved with the pirates_?

"Now you know where I get it from," Alvin sneered. "But don't think we're on good terms – the woman's a witch," he growled. "Ever since I was a boy she's seen me as a disappointment. We've been trying to top each other's treachery for years."

"So how's she involved with the pirates?" Hiccup quizzed.

"She only leads them – I'd swear she'd put 'em under some spell of terror," Alvin replied. "You don't find many who disagree with her who keep their heads for long." Flint and Iona gulped next to their parents. "Now you see why _I_ need to benefit from this venture if I'm to join you," he snarled. Artair instantly cut in with an offer.

"If you help us, you get control over the pirates' territories," he offered. Alvin glared at him.

"Land is _not_ what I want," he spat.

"What _do_ you want, then?" Astrid hissed. Alvin's gaze shifted to her and the Nordic Blonde's grip tightened around the handle of her axe.

"What I want is to best my mother for good," he replied plainly. "Give me leeway to accomplish this however I see fit and you have a deal."

"Done," Hiccup agreed quickly. They didn't have time to beat around the bush – Ember was still out there. Alvin smirked and barked at one of the newer Outcasts to fetch a map and Flint was subconsciously left wondering if Alvin had even thought of choosing an heir and retiring...guess the Treacherous wasn't one to just settle down in front of the fire and watch someone else lead the tribe.

* * *

**I'm back! Upload's a day later than usual but I've been away for a while so I decided to update this and ****_Ablaze_**** today. I've actually realised that I'm nearly out of chapters...I'm going to stick to the upload schedule as much as possible but the likelihood is that I might run out of material to post so the story may go on hiatus for a while some time in the next couple of weeks.**

**In regards to the chapter, Kyra ****_FINALLY_**** makes her official appearance! And dragon-mother instincts are kicking in now that her daughter's in probably the most trouble she's been in for a while...virtual cookies to those who can hazard a guess as to what might be happening ****_very_**** soon. Also, hi, Alvin! Don't expect Kyra to be happy to see you.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven: Back in the Game**

I'd been shoved into a tiny cell in the depths of who-knows-where-could-be-Neflhiem-for-all-I-know about...oh, gods, maybe three hours ago? I couldn't tell if my head was ringing or whether the screams I kept hearing were still coming from my mother...Kyra, the Dragon Shifter...from the other end of the island. A whole myriad of thoughts was going around in my head – one: my mother was alive and kicking (pretty much literally) and was now trying her darn hardest to get me back to safety; two: _where in Valhalla were the others_? How long did it take a group of Vikings, my own family included, plus three Night Furies and three Deadly Nadders to catch up with a pirate ship?

_Guys, any time in the next twenty-four hours would be nice_, I thought as my arms started cramping up behind my back – they'd been tied there for at least most of a day if I hadn't lost track of too much time. At the same time as being impatient with the rescue party, I felt myself longing to break out of the miniscule cell and run back through the corridors to my mother...let her know I was okay. I wasn't entirely sure why – maybe it was because she was the Dragon Shifter and some dragon stuff had been passed on to me? It would explain why I could understand a little bit of Dragonese despite having never been taught...

_Far, far away is my pearly Adriatic._

_Far, far away...my pretty island home..._

My sharp ears pricked at the sound of a haunting song floating through the corridors. The voice singing it had a crystalline quality to it as it pitched each note to perfection – I recognised that song from somewhere...but where from? Behind the softness of the lyrics and delicate quality of the tune, I could hear the song gathering power...gathering strength.

_Far, far away is my lovely daughter, Ember..._

I froze stiffly at the sound of my name. Kyra was singing...my mother was singing...Hiccup had told me and Flint about this – the song that was embedded in the hearts of all Dragon Shifters that reminded them of their ties to home and family as well as the dragons...the Song of the Adriatic.

_Far, far away from her I've had to roam..._

I shivered as I almost felt the power surging through the corridors of the pirates' stronghold. Guards, both Berserker and pirate alike, were running past my cell and ignoring me entirely. Somehow I knew. Somehow I knew what was about to happen. It didn't mean that I wasn't scared because believe me, I was terrified. But I couldn't shake the feeling that Valkyra the Ablaze was about to unleash Hel on the our captives.

/\

"The pirate stronghold is east of here," Alvin noted from the back of a spare Monstrous Nightmare as he accompanied the Dragon Riders (now all reunited after meeting back at the rendezvous point) across the ocean. "We always drop off the exiles at an island not far from here."

Hiccup nodded and kept flat against Toothless' back as the gang raced across the ocean towards the pirate territories. They were so close to Ember now...the sun was setting and the full moon rising through the fog, misted over and casting a shimmering white-grey light over the waters. Not preferable conditions for a rescue.

"So what's the plan, Hiccup?" Snotlout called from Hookfang. Spitface flew close by next to him.

"You and the Twins cause a distraction – I don't care what, just keep 'em occupied," Hiccup answered quickly. "Fishlegs, Heather and their kids will come in from the back with the follow-up attack whilst Astrid, Flint, Artair, Alvin and I head in to find Ember and...gah...what was her name?" he shouted to Alvin.

"Excellinor!" Alvin replied, growling at the name. Artair shivered – it certainly had a chilling quality to it.

"Yeah, her," Hiccup noted. "Once Ember's out, Alvin's free to do as he pleases – we'll help if necessary."

"Might not be, Hiccup – don't count on it," Alvin grumbled.

Hiccup ignored the quip and glanced at Astrid who shrugged – it was as good a plan he could have come up with given the time he had so they had little choice even if it was a bit rushed. Now that they were so close to the pirate stronghold and most likely to Ember there was no way they could turn back now...even if it meant pirate troubles for the next few years. Well, the gang had dealt with dragons the size of mountains and magic before – they could deal with sea-faring plunderers...hopefully.

"Say, Chief," Scalene called from Ignis' back. "What's gonna happen if something goes kaput?"

"You doubting the chief, Sis?" Sticks snickered from Double Trouble (Stone also smirked from the other head).

"Uh...hate to say it, Sticks," Ruffnut sniggered. "But Hiccup's plans don't _always_ go...well...to plan."

"Yeah, like, there was that one time when..." Tuffnut began before Hiccup cut him off.

"_Thank you_ guys, for the boost of confidence," he groaned dryly. "And before you ask – permission granted to shoot first and skip the questions." The twins high-fived at that. Windwalker suddenly started growling and was quickly followed by Toothless and the rest of the dragons.

"Uh...what's going on?" Iona whimpered from Sunset's back. Artair was trying his best to keep Venom calm but Hiccup and Astrid recognised the flickering glow that was slowly appearing in their dragons' eyes. They'd seen it only once or twice before – back when a certain someone had returned home twelve years after vanishing.

"Toothless...what is it?" Hiccup whispered nervously.

"**That music...she's singing...**" the Night Fury answered softly. Hiccup stiffened – singing? He strained his ears against the rush of the waves and listened as Astrid asked him what his dragon had said. Blocking out everything, Hiccup's eyes widened as his ears caught the sound of a faint yet familiar melody through the fog.

_Far, far away is my pearly Adriatic._

_Far, far away...my pretty island home..._

"In case everything goes kaput..." Hiccup muttered in answer to Scalene's question. At least, he started to answer the question as the next second a shockwave sent the fog flying into the gang's faces, along with a spray of sea and even a few back-flips from the dragons and their riders.

"Uh...what just happened?" Alvin yelped irritably. Hiccup glanced back at the gang and nodded.

"Okay, guys – distraction now!"

/\

In her cell at the pirate stronghold, Kyra had been singing the Song of the Adriatic to herself for the entire evening, starting under her breath but gradually her voice began to build in power after twelve years of barely being used. She'd ignored the guards ordering her to keep quiet and even a barked threat from Excellinor that her tongue would be cut out if she didn't shut up and had slowly felt her power returning to her.

_I'm sick of hiding..._ Kyra thought to herself. What had been the point these last twelve years anyway? She'd practically torn her own heart out and left it shrivelled on some beach somewhere the day she left Ember of Johan's boat. The maternal instinct...the dragon instinct...to keep danger away from her child had never left but Kyra had distanced herself so much from her family that it had become second nature. Her powers had waned due to a lack of use. Her voice had dried up. She hadn't been in contact with the creatures she was supposed to watch over in Midgard for over a decade. Now for the first time in twelve years, Kyra was welcoming back her strength.

_They wanted the Dragon Shifter,_ Kyra thought bitterly. _Let them see a mother_. On the nth recital of the Song of the Adriatic, Kyra felt fire surge through her veins, setting her birth marks alight in a burning red glow. Her eyes shone Night-Fury-flame-blue as the final note resonated with a terrifying shriek and enraged roar that sounded from Kyra's throat. Her hair, cut short by her dagger years ago, flashed red in the bright light and fluttered wildly around her oval sharp-jawed face as she sprung forward, threatening to yank her chains from the wall.

"Do _not_ let her leave the cell!" a guard yelled. Dagur raced around the corner upon hearing the commotion – it was the first time he'd ever been greeted by Kyra in her Shifter State.

He promptly passed out.

/\

I heard the roar from the other side of the prison and if I'd been either a) a lot younger or b) a complete and utter wimp then...to say things would have gotten embarrassing would be the understatement of the century. The building shuddered and I had to curl up to avoid getting my bones smashed by some fragments falling from the ceiling – it was chaos outside my cell with pirates and Berserkers running through the corridors.

"Find her!" one yelled.

"She's gone under – watch the floor!"

My eyebrows furrowed. Gone under? The floor of my cell vibrated with such a large amount of force that I knew that something couldn't be good...one way or another.

_Gods, help me..._ I begged under my gag as the floor cracked. I shuffled as quickly as I could to the wall when a Whispering Death with bright glowing blue eyes bust through the rock right in front of me.

I'm going to admit it now. I screamed like a banshee under that stinking rag around my mouth.

/\

Hiccup and the rest of the party broke through the fog towards the pirate keep and even though it was evident most of the commotion was taking place indoors, it was clear that the pirates' attention was anywhere but the advancing team which provided a perfect opportunity to head in.

"TAKE NO PRISONERS!" Hiccup bellowed, charging Toothless forward and being closely followed by Astrid, Artair, Flint and Alvin whilst the rest of the party split off in their various directions. Windwalker sped after her mate and on Hiccup's signal, dive-bombed directly at one of the walls of the stronghold, blasting an opening for the team. Hiccup and Flint flipped their flight masks down whilst the others clenched their jaws and steeled themselves against the sting of cold wind against their cheeks (Hiccup decided there and then that he was making Astrid at least her own flight mask for this year's Snoggletog) before they dived into the stronghold.

No one ignored Hiccup's 'take no prisoners' order – the dragons didn't care who got in their way as they scanned the cells for Ember and, as Hiccup's hunch grew stronger, possibly Kyra as well. Hiccup yelped as the floor beneath him bulged slightly and in his confusion he nearly crashed Toothless into a wall. He earned a slap in the face from Toothless' ear in retaliation. Astrid and Stormfly came to a sudden halt as well as both the Deadly Nadder and Night Fury followed the bulge intently with glowing eyes which suddenly shone like miniature stars in the dim fire-lit corridors of the pirate stronghold. Hiccup and Astrid shared a glance of their own.

"Fall back?" Astrid called.

"Fall back!" Hiccup nodded, sending a dragon roar signal through the corridors as Toothless blasted another hole in the wall to allow for a quick escape...

It seemed that they weren't the only ones who'd had that particular idea.

/\

My mouth now free of that disgusting gag, I was free to scream as much as I wanted and I didn't miss the opportunity. I probably shrieked loud enough to send Terrible Terrors flying from the rooftops. I was on the back of a dragon that, quite frankly, I'd previously thought was impossible to fly – a Whispering Death...no, correction. Make that a Screaming Death. Yes, I was talking the Titan Class born-once-every-three-hundred-years mutated Whispering Death dragon...and I was clinging to its neck and trying to keep my feet away from its tail as much as my strength would allow me as the thing tore through the ground, creating tunnels under the very floors of the pirate stronghold.

_Sweet Freya, Mother of Thor..._ I thought to myself. I wasn't able to finish the prayer – my head was still racing and trying to comprehend exactly what the heck was going on.

So the Screaming Death had burst through the floor of my cell approximately five to seven minutes ago and the first thing I'd noticed, once I'd gotten over the sheer terror of having one of those things come out of nowhere in front of my face, was that the creature's eyes were not the usual red that Hiccup had told me and Flint about when recounting some of his teenage adventures, but glowing a bright Night-Fury-flame blue and flame-like patterns running along its snake-like body, darting in between the spikes running along its tail...these patterns were shimmering a crimson red that reminded me of the sun in the early angry hours of sunset or sunrise.

With little hesitation the dragon had flicked its tail and somehow a very well-aimed spike sliced through the rope binding my ankles together – I don't know why but I instantly turned around and allowed the creature to bite open my wrist-bonds as well...I just...knew that it wanted me to do that. Before I had any time to think about anything else I'd been flipped onto the dragon's neck and it was carrying me underground as it chewed up rock and earth right in front of me.

To say I was terrified would be the understatement to top all understatements.

"Dear gods...please let me get through this..." I muttered, trying to keep mud and rocks getting into my mouth.

_Don't worry – I won't let you get hurt._

I froze and clung tighter to the Screaming Death as we suddenly burst into sunlight. That voice had the same sound as my mother's, only less gravelly and more musical...crystalline, almost. I finally opened my lungs and shrieked as we entered the open air.

"EMBER!" someone shouted. Daring to glance over my shoulder, I spotted a familiar sight of a Night Fury – Toothless.

"PA!" I yelled back out of habit. The Screaming Death turned its head to look and I just about saw Hiccup start in shock and Toothless do a double take at the sight but a split second later Toothless let out a triumphant roar – I could hear the other dragons follow suit. The Screaming Death let out a roar of its own, shaking the very foundations of the pirate's stronghold – a smaller roar sounded just beneath us and I couldn't stop a smile breaking out on my face as I spotted Pondskater.

_Jump. Get a head start – I'll keep them occupied._

That musical voice again. I trusted it. With a firm nod, I pushed myself away from the dragon's back and somersaulted (clumsily, mind you – I might be fast but I'm by no means that graceful) onto Pondskater's back. Almost entirely in sync with our movements, the Screaming Death twisted out of the way as Pondskater shot forward and caught up with Flint who'd just rounded a tower.

"Em!" he yelped as we nearly crashed into him and Starlight. "You okay?"

"Oh, I'm just peachy...WHAT THE FLIP DO YOU THINK?!" I snapped sharply. Honestly, off all the stupid questions...

"Well, _sorry_ for worrying!" Flint retorted. A bang sounded from below and a yelp in the distance told us that hovering around wasn't the best thing to do. We shot upwards to a higher altitude before I heard a cackled shriek from down below.

"DOWN THEM ALL! THE SHIFTER DOES NOT LEAVE THIS ISLAND!" Excellinor bellowed – the sound of her voice was like iron against stone and I shuddered upon listening to it. Flint began shouting at the other kids (who I'd only just realised were there, along with the rest of the Riders, Artair...I mean, Dad...Heather and Iona...good gods, exactly _how_ many people did Hiccup think needed to accompany him on a rescue mission?) to perform evasive manoeuvres as nets began flying, barely missing us.

"Alright, guys – fall back!" Astrid yelled from Stormfly. Pretty much everyone began following her except Hiccup and another dragon whose rider I didn't recognise and the Screaming Death who stayed behind to continue battering the stronghold. I began flying after my aunt but something held me back. I halted in midair and glanced back at the Screaming Death just as its flaring red marks began to glow even brighter.

/\

Hiccup shielded his eyes against the angry red glow – he knew that glow. Gods save everyone in the near vicinity if things got completely out of hand.

"Sweet Baby Thor in a thunderstorm..." he muttered. "She _is_ back..."

He barely had time to finished the sentence as the Screaming Death in front of him let out a terrifying screech that sent the dragons into a confused state as the glowing red and blue combined in a blinding shine – when it cleared, Hiccup's jaw dropped to Toothless' head as he was greeted with a sight he'd not seen in over twelve years.

Hovering a hundred feet above the crashing grey waves was Kyra, Night Fury wings extended and beating powerfully against her sides and her hair flying wildly around her face. Her power radiated across the dismal territory furiously...Hiccup had the feeling things could only end badly if he didn't calm her down and quickly.

"Alvin!" he yelled. "Excellinor's all yours – you'll be alright?"

"Perfectly!" Alvin growled back. "You do what you have to – we'll catch up on this later."

On the ground, Excellinor was still yelling at the pirates to keep firing the nets.

"You blasted scum! Bring her and that brat down!" she shrieked. "She's not even moving!"

_SCREECH!_

Excellinor spun around at the sound of the noise and ducked as a small black dragon shot a powerful blue blast into the cannons, causing them to explode to splinters.

"DON'T EVEN TRY IT, WITCH!" a shrill voice spat.

"EM!" a nasally voice followed as another black shadow followed. Excellinor glared at the skies, trying to track down the things that had destroyed some of her cannons when...

"No 'Good to see you'? You never were a good mother!"

Excellinor's crooked and hunched over frame spun around with astounding speed as she was greeted with the sight of her son – still twice her height and width, she snarled, displaying a set of gums beset with very few...very yellow and splintered...teeth.

"What business do you have here?" she spat.

Meanwhile, back in the skies, Hiccup dodged an incoming attack from Kyra who was still in her Shifter State – Hiccup knew he had to calm his sister down but right now he was a little preoccupied with the fact that Ember was still flying around.

"Ember – get to Artair and the others!" Hiccup shouted.

"I'm not leaving her behind!" Ember snapped back. "Didn't you say you were always the one to calm her down?!"

"WHOA!" Hiccup yelped as a cannon ball narrowly missed them. Just below, Kyra let out a deafening shriek that a harpy would be jealous of and performed another dive bomb attack. "What's that got to do with anything?!"

"Get us both out of here!" Ember cried, sending Pondskater into a dive after...Hiccup still had trouble believing it...her mother. Knowing she wouldn't listen to anything else, Hiccup relented.

"Alright, bud – let's get your Queen back!" he muttered to Toothless before shooting after Kyra. Ember was keeping the pirates' attention but their attacks only served to further infuriate the Dragon Shifter. Hiccup had to act quickly. "VALKYRA!" he yelled, flying underneath her and grabbing hold of her ankle. The response from Kyra was a writhing scream as she struggled to free herself – luckily, Hiccup was able to start dragging her away from the fort.

_SHRIEK!_

"KYRA, CALM DOWN!" Hiccup screamed, knowing he had her attention now. He halted Toothless midair and swung his arm forward, the momentum carrying Kyra ahead a few metres. However, her eyes still burned bright blue and her birthmarks seared crimson under her gloves and hair - she was still dangerous. "Kyra, it's me..." Hiccup whispered, stretching a hand out. The light flickered – there we go... "You're safe now – you don't have to fight!" Hiccup continued softly. Ember noticed that her uncle and mother were out of range of the cannons and raced upwards to join them.

"Mum!" she cried. Kyra's head turned to face her and the glow of her eyes and birthmarks flickered even further, showing a flash of bright green dragon eyes under the searing blue light. "I'm okay...we're all okay..."

"E...Em..." Kyra's lips formed, her voice...haggard and rough from years of disuse...barely audible underneath the growl rumbling in her throat. Hiccup urged Toothless to fly closer as he stretched out his hand – not the way he did when he trained a wild dragon, palm forward...but offering his hand for his older sister to take, palm facing the heavens.

"We're here," he whispered. Kyra blinked a few times and a beam broke across Hiccup's face as the woman's right eye reverted to the same shade of forest-green as his. She was back. "Hey, sis," he grinned.

"Hi...little brother..." Kyra smiled weakly before her eyes closed again and her wings vanished.

/\

"MUM!" I shrieked, sending Pondskater into a dive after my mother as she fell from the sky. Why had she passed out? She'd just shown so much strength...so much power... That was why. I remembered the pirates saying that Kyra was tired. She hadn't used her powers in so long...she was no longer used to this kind of strength.

_Screech!_

"AH!" I yelped, barely bringing Pondskater to a halt as a shadow shot out beneath me and snatched my mother from the air before she hit the waves. Recovering quickly, I noticed that it was a Monstrous Nightmare dragon but I didn't recognise the rider, at least not immediately.

"Alvin!" Hiccup called from above. "Thanks for the save, but I'll take her from here."

"Be a bit awkward if she woke up, eh?" Alvin...the man's name was...smirked as Hiccup flew over – the Monstrous Nightmare carefully dropped Kyra onto Toothless' back. I relaxed a little, knowing my mother was in safe hands but I flinched when I heard the sound of cannon fire. "You lot had best get outta here. Leave the witch and this place to me," Alvin snarled.

"You'll be alright?" Hiccup asked, keeping a protective arm over my mother to make sure she didn't fall.

"You're talking to the chief of the Outcasts, boy," Alvin smirked. I shivered slightly but felt that this man deserved my thanks – he'd no doubt brought my uncle and the others here and anyone who was against Excellinor, in my mind, couldn't be too bad...right?

"Thanks for your help," I called. Alvin nodded curtly to me before heading off back towards the stronghold whilst Hiccup and I shot off in the other direction, out of the pirates' territories and back towards home.

About time. I'd hated being the damsel in distress.

* * *

**Uh...I've now officially caught up with my writing and am out of chapters to update for now. Unfortunately this means that updates will no longer be as regular as before but I'll be sure to keep you guys up to date with the progress and will try to get at least one more chapter out before Christmas (speaking off, I'll be having another Snoggletog Special this year so keep an eye out for that come December!).**

**Hope this chapter didn't turn out too bad. At least Ember and Kyra are out of trouble for now. With any luck I'll be able to continue writing this soon. Thanks for your continued support, guys! See you tomorrow for another _Ablaze_ update if you're keeping up with that - if not then I'll see you when I see you.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve: Coming Back Around**

Kyra still remembered the last time she'd woken up with a splitting pain in her head like it was only last week. Except that time she'd woken up with a bandage covering the left side of her face which when removed revealed that she was now the owner of a dragon eye. This time, as her eyelids fluttered painfully open, she received a fuzzy vision in both of them – all she could make out was a warm brown colour accompanied by flickers of golden orange light. She was lying on something hard but her head was propped up by something...a pillow? It had been so long since Kyra had known the sensation of having a rough bag stuffed with fluffy sheep's wool under her head.

"Ughn..." she groaned, raising a hand to add pressure to her throbbing head. She felt exhausted, more so than she'd ever felt before. Maybe that overload of power hadn't been the best of ideas...damn dragon instincts. It wasn't the first time Kyra had cursed her innate abilities and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

"She's waking up!" a call sounded, one that sounded familiar. It was gruff but still soothing – a low voice heavy with a Scottish accent (as Kyra had known it in the world she'd grown up in). Moving her head stiffly and blinking a few times to clear her vision up, Kyra's face broke into the tiniest of smiles when she saw the bearded face of her father, Stoick the Vast.

"Dad..." she whispered weakly. It had been twelve years since she'd seen the man, not counting a possible brief glance when she'd visited Berk as a bandit a few days ago, but he'd barely changed. Aside from the heavily greying beard, he was still the giant of a man that Kyra remembered. "Am I...?"

"You're safe, Kyra," Stoick murmured gently. "You've been out cold for a couple of days." Kyra winced. Ouch – she must have gotten _really_ mad to have used that much power.

"Where am I?" she mumbled, although the answer was probably obvious.

"Hiccup brought you back to Berk," Stoick replied. "Further from the pirates and Berserkers than the Meathead Isles. Artair and Ember are downstairs." Kyra bit her lip and averted her gaze. After all this time, was she truly ready for a family reunion? After all, her only daughter...the daughter she'd hidden herself away from to keep attention away from her...had seen her at, quite possibly, her worst – enraged and dangerous. And Artair...well, she'd never given him as much as a whisper to let him know that either she or Ember were alive and well...ish.

The sound of footsteps brought Kyra out of her musings – turning her head to face the stairs that led to the upper floor of the Haddock residence (at least, that's where she assumed she was), she pushed herself into a seating position as she was greeted with the sight of her (not so) little brother and her daughter.

"Kyra!" Hiccup exclaimed.

"Mum!" Ember cried quietly at the exact same time. Overwhelmed with the dragon-like motherly instinct within her, Kyra swung her legs over the side of the bed as she shakily sat up and opened her arms, weeping softly as Ember threw her own arms around her mother's neck. "You're okay..."

/\

"Em...I'm so sorry..." Kyra whispered into my ear. I didn't know why I'd hugged her – I thought that it would be a seriously awkward reunion with me hanging back downstairs for as long as possible – but something had compelled me to run over and comfort my mother...perhaps it was part of being the child of the Dragon Shifter. After all, despite being able to suppress her instincts to an extent, Kyra had still protected me with her everything back at the pirates' fort the way I'd seen some dragon mothers with their offspring. And the hatchlings always had a way of letting their mothers know they were okay...unhurt. Maybe it was similar with me.

"I can't believe you're alive..." I murmured back. Well, I couldn't exactly say something along the lines of 'I missed you' because, let's face it, I'd known the woman for a maximum three days (not counting the ones she'd just been spending unconscious). I didn't know what to say, if I'm honest. Kyra broke the hug and held my hands, her mismatched eyes avoiding my yellow-green ones.

"I guess I've got more than just a bit of explaining to do, huh?" she grimaced weakly, her accent mirroring my own.

"Maybe later," I suggested. After all, the woman was still weak – she could barely sit up straight. Hiccup walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I hope we've taken care of her as well as you might have hoped," he smiled awkwardly. Kyra laughed softly with a silver-bell quality before replying.

"You've raised her wonderfully," she replied. "Thank you." Hiccup smiled in welcome before pressing something into my hands – my hair pin. Smiling my own 'thank you', I quickly pinned some of the stray bangs out of my face. "It suits you," Kyra noted kindly.

"It was yours, wasn't it?" I asked.

"Your father had that made for me as a wedding gift," Kyra explained. "Though, just between you and me, I think it looks a little better on you," she winked. Grandpa Stoick walked over with a caring twinkle in his eyes.

"You think you're ready to come down?" he asked. I noticed my mother's brief smile fade into an expression of uncertainty. After so long away from proper human contact she must be so nervous. Instinctively, I grabbed her hand and squeezed it – Hiccup did the same.

"You got this, Sis," Hiccup murmured. A crash sounded from the roof, making the chief wince. "Besides, I think Windwalker might destroy the entire roof if you stay cooped up in here too long." Kyra laughed at that and nodded – using me and my uncle as support, she slowly pushed herself to her feet. After wobbling around for a moment or two, she regained her balance and pulled herself straight – now that they were side by side, I noticed that my mother was indeed about an inch or so taller than my uncle which made me rather smug for some reason – maybe I'd inherit her height and overtake Flint someday. Even though she still had a shoulder-blade-length plait hanging by one side of her face, the rest of her hair was roughly cut to around her jaw and it was remarkable how much she and my uncle actually looked alike. If it weren't for the one year age difference (as Astrid had explained to me) they could have easily passed for twins.

With Stoick leading the way and me trailing a step or two behind, we made our way down the stairs into the dining room where practically the entire Haddock-Godrikson family had gathered to witness the return of the Dragon Shifter to the family. My father, Artair, was standing on the far side of the room to the fireplace, half concealed in shadow (mayhap this reunion would be more awkward for him...I wasn't sure); Flint was perched on his favourite thatched chair; and Astrid was keeping the triplets under control by the table. Upon seeing their aunt for the first time, the usually squabbling trio of young girls quietened down instantly.

"Hey..." Kyra mumbled shyly, rubbing the back of her neck. She was no longer dressed in her bandit's rags – instead, Heather had brought over one of her own tunics for the Chief-tess to wear (Heather and her family were, as far as I knew, back on the Meathead Isles taking care of things whilst Artair was out): a dark green one with a leather overskirt. The sleeves were mid-length and bound with a leather strap, showing off the flame-like marks running down my mother's arms. Her black leggings had been replaced with a pair of Astrid's dark blue ones and my aunt had even dug out a spare pair of boots. I squeezed her other hand reassuringly as Hiccup hopped down the rest of the stairs (wincing as he landed awkwardly on his left leg, might I add) to let her past.

There was a few seconds of silence that seemed to drag on for eternity. Astrid was the first to move – leaving her (for once) pacified triplets by the table, she walked over to Kyra and pulled her into the kind of hug one would expect from a best friend or a sister. I let go of my mother's hand and smiled at the sight – Kyra truly had missed her family...I hated to think how painful it was to stay away. I could hardly say anything – I hadn't known who my parents were until about a week ago.

/\

"It's good to see you again, Kyra," Astrid whispered into her friend's ear.

"Good to see you too, Astrid," Kyra muttered back. With a beaming smile, Astrid broke the hug and wiped the tears leaking from her sister-in-law's eyes. Time for family introductions.

"Come on – time for you to meet the kids," she grinned. Kyra smiled back shakily as Astrid pulled her over to a spot where she could be seen easily. "You met Flint briefly," Astrid began, pointing at her son who waved slightly. Kyra's smile warmed.

"Okay, the last time I saw you, you were...this big?" she teased, holding her hands about a foot apart from each other. She remembered the day that word had come from Berk that her sister-in-law had given birth to a son. As soon as they could, even though Kyra was still pregnant with the child that had turned out to be Ember at the time, Artair and Kyra had paid a visit to see their newborn nephew.

"It's an honour to meet you, Aunt Kyra," Flint laughed in reply. Kyra flushed a shade of red that was visible even in the firelight.

"I don't know about 'an honour' but..." she trailed off as she walked over and ruffled the boy's bright blonde hair, a shade matching his mother's exactly. "You've grown up with Em?" she quizzed, glancing at her daughter who nodded at the same time as her cousin...the boy she'd called her brother for twelve years.

"Uh-huh," Flint nodded. "She's got your left eye," he teased. Kyra and Ember both flushed – Hiccup darted his gaze between them and suddenly noticed that the irises of his niece's eyes were indeed the same shade as his sister's dragon eye. Astrid pulled the triplets into a line.

"And, well, you've never met these three," she shrugged. Kyra turned around and smiled at the sight of her five-year-old nieces. "Girls, introduce yourselves and no playing around," Astrid instructed with a motherly warning tone. The triplets huffed – clearly at least Lysa and Eva had been planning a joke (Nott was less of a trickster – her sisters often called her the 'goody-two-shoes' of the trio).

"I'm Lysa," Lysa introduced herself with a slight curtsey. Nott walked forward shyly and shrugged her shoulders slightly.

"My name's Nott, Aunt Kyra," she murmured. Kyra smiled warmly and shook their hands in turn before turning to the last triplet.

"I'm Eva, Aunt Kyra," Eva introduced confidently, sticking her hand out. "Between you, me and everyone in this room, I'm going to be the most kick-butt dragon rider ever existed!"

"Says who?" Lysa snapped dryly. "The girl who can hardly control Camicaze?"

Kyra laughed her silver-bell giggle at her nieces' interactions – Nott shying away from the confrontation as Lysa and Eva began verbally battling it out. It reminded her a lot of the arguments Hiccup and Snotlout used to have when they were teenagers.

"We'll introduce you to the other kids later," Hiccup suggested with a smile as he hung back by the stairs (Stoick had sat down in his usual chair). "They've been waiting to meet you since we got you back here." Kyra smiled at the suggestion as she broke up the fight between two of her nieces.

"I'd like that," she agreed. Artair moved from his place in the corner of the house into the light coming from the fireplace – as he did so, Kyra stood up and her smile vanished to be replaced by a stoic expression. Ember gulped and sat down next to Flint – okay, awkward parent reunion time. "Hello, Artair..." Kyra mumbled.

"Kyra..." Artair breathed quietly. Hiccup cast a side-glance at Astrid and gulped – this could get extremely awkward extremely fast and Hiccup knew that he was likely to explode if Artair said something he felt was out of order. Astrid nodded and Hiccup quickly left the house with the excuse that he needed to help the Ack family with mending the roof on their barn. A silence filled the house, so much so that the triplets began fidgeting. In the end, Artair tried to start talking again.

"Kyra, I..." he began, walking towards Kyra but the woman flinched backwards slightly and avoided his gaze.

"Artair, I know what you're going to say, alright?" she interrupted. "Why didn't I say anything? Let you know exactly what I planned to do?" She trailed off and gulped back what Ember recognised as a sob. All the time, Kyra's voice never raised much above a stifled cry – it wasn't at a level that would rival a banshee but at the same time she wasn't mumbling. "I...I...I honestly don't even know if _I_ knew what I was going to do," she stammered. Artair walked over to his wife slowly as she spoke. "I know that I left you thinking we were both dead and, I'll admit it, I was a complete idiot for doing so. I...Artair, I know that I can't use..._this_...as an excuse!" Kyra almost choked on her sobs as they rose further up her throat, gesturing to herself and the birthmarks that ran across her arms and face. "I was wrong to do all of that! I know that...just..."

"Kyra," Artair whispered with a gentle firmness as he held Kyra's shoulders, trying to calm her uncontrollable shaking as their gazes met. Ember bit her lip and held her breath before her father spoke. "I don't care." Kyra fell silent as tears began leaking from her eyes. "You and Ember are alive!" Artair continued, his handsome face breaking into a warm and relieved smile. "_That_ is all I care about."

Astrid quickly covered the triplets' eyes as Artair and Kyra shared a heartfelt kiss in front of the fireplace.

/\

I couldn't stop my heart from soaring at the sight of my parents' reunion. I must have let loose a small gasp of some kind as they broke their kiss ad my mother extended her arm towards me. I glanced at Flint before moving – he smiled and made a motion with his head.

"Go on," he mouthed. At that, I leapt up and ran over from my position next to my brother...my cousin...and into the embrace. I'd been hugged by the aunt and uncle I'd called Ma and Pa for twelve years before...but this was different. The warmth was different...the comfort from the embrace was different. I felt the arm around my shoulder tighten slightly and I pressed myself into the warmth off the hug. For years I had wondered what it would be like to have a hug with my own parents. Now I knew.

My mother was the one who pulled away from the embrace first but we all remained in place. I glanced up at my mother and smiled comfortingly as I saw her sad smile and her tearstained cheeks. She was home – she didn't have to worry about me anymore. We were both safe. I was unsure as of yet if I wanted to leave Berk and instead live in the Meathead Isles with them...after all, it would mean moving away from the place I'd called home for years and effectively starting my life anew...but for now, I was happy enough to finally know my parentage...to know who I was.

Silence filled the house for what seemed like forever until Hiccup walked back in through the door. My family's hug broke apart but by the contented smile on Hiccup's face, I could tell everything was okay – that there would be no explosive outbursts this time. Even Stoick visibly relaxed in his chair as any tension that might have been in the air lifted.

"Well..." he remarked once the silence became a bit too loud for his liking. "I'd say we've all had a rough couple of days..."

"Girls, how much trouble did you give your grandfather?" Hiccup shot sarcastically at the triplets who immediately started bickering over who did what and whose fault for whatever happened it was...you get the point. Stoick burst out laughing and shook his head.

"Oh, the wee lasses were fine, son," he reassured. "Better than the Thorston twins ever were."

"Looks like you did well with your family, Hiccup," my mother joked at her brother as she sat down by the table.

"You didn't do too badly yourself, sis," my uncle smiled back – I was grateful for the firelight covering what no doubt was my cheeks blushing. Suddenly, someone's stomach growled from somewhere in the room – a highly embarrassed-looking Flint gave away the culprit.

"Sorry..." my cousin-who-I-called-a-brother mumbled. Seconds later, my own tummy decided to give a demonstration of a dragon's mating call – in embarrassment, I hid my face under a curtain of hair but not before every single adult in the room startling laughing.

"Okay, who wants dinner?" Hiccup suggested. Kyra shot to her feet, wavering slightly from lingering exhaustion and rushed to the kitchen area before Astrid had a chance to move.

"I'll cook!" she offered. Astrid opened her mouth in protest but my mother was already in with a counter-argument. "I'm out of practice, Astrid," she pointed out. "Besides, last time I had your cooking..."

"Uh, in milady's defence, she _has_ improved, Kyra," Hiccup interrupted. Kyra raised an eyebrow before turning her attention to whatever ingredients she'd fished out of the baskets – I spotted cod (Mum had steered clear of eels) and a few root vegetables. There was a mumbled "_I'll believe that when I see it_" and despite the "Ooh!" from the triplets and huff from Astrid I was amazed there wasn't more of a spat rising between my mother and aunt – evidently, Mum was one of the few people who could say that kind of thing to Astrid's face and get away with it.

Thinking about it, judging by what I'd seen a few days ago I could see why.

"I know...I know, it's her decision entirely," I heard Artair's voice sound behind me. Glancing over my shoulder I noticed that Artair had gone over to Hiccup and the two chiefs were now in conversation. From what I'd just heard, I assumed it was about me. Brilliant and _just_ when I'd been thinking about it as well. "If she decides to stay here, I won't hold it against her."

"Just don't push it on her, okay?" Hiccup muttered. "If I know Ember, she'll talk about this kind of thing when she wants." I smiled – what Hiccup said was right. If I had something I wanted to talk about, I'd say so. I didn't want to bring up the matter of which family I would live with now that I knew who my blood parents were right now – we'd had a far too crazy couple of days to worry about that right now. I decided to wait until my mother had fully recovered until I'd bring the subject up.

The smell of fish stew began wafting from the kitchen – I noticed that everything my mother put into the cooking pot was very roughly chopped and she was tentatively poking the fire underneath and stirring the contents with an uncertain frown on her face. I winced and grimaced as she fumbled with a board of potatoes and sent them splashing into the pot all at the same time. Stew went everywhere and Camicazi instantly flew down from her favourite spot in the rafters to lap up the mess but I bit my lip when I saw how saddened my mother looked. She wasn't used to this at all but from what I'd heard over the last few days whilst she was unconscious, Kyra had every speck of pride that every Haddock family member had. She wasn't one to back down from something and often kicked herself mentally if something went wrong.

I was about to walk over to comfort her when a whistling started. The tune was familiar – it was one that Hiccup and Astrid often sang and danced to on their anniversary. It was known throughout the village and was a traditional Viking love son but it was known to many as the Haddock's Song because of how it had been passed down through generations of the family as part of courtship: _For the Dancing and the Dreaming_. I cast my gaze about the room, half expecting to see my uncle, aunt or even my grandfather whistling it as they sometimes would on impromptu occasions but I was surprised to see my father instead walking towards my mother, whistling the tune.

"Ah...so she did teach him," Stoick remarked with a smile. Kyra had paused in her uncertain cooking and stopped trying to mop up the spilled stew (in my opinion Camicazi was doing an okay job on her own) as her husband walked over, her face lighting up in nostalgia. Hiccup and Astrid gathered the triplets together whilst I sat down next to Flint again as we all watched things unfold. My mother had spent twelve years alone; cutting herself off from those she loved most to protect them...to protect me. My father held no resentment towards her for it...and now he was proving it.

"Remember, Kyra?" he whispered gently as he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and took the board out of her arms. "Your family's son?" Softly and uncertainly at first, he began to sing.

_I'll swim and sail on savage seas,_

_With ne'er a fear of drowning_

_And gladly ride the waves of life,_

_If you would marry me._

/\

The smallest of smiles broke across Kyra's face as the familiar lyrics, as much as part of her life as the Song of the Adriatic, floated into her ear. Artair had never been the best singer in the Archipelago but the sound of it brought back memories of when they'd first married. Having learnt the song over the years, she decided to teach her new husband to continue her family's tradition of having the song as their usual courtship melody – a celebration of love. She had just moved to the Meathead Isles with Artair and was starting her new life as the Chief-tess of the Meatheads but she still wanted to keep a hold of the family traditions she herself had only just learned about.

"_No scorching sun nor freezing cold_," Artair continued, helping Kyra to her feet again. "_Will stop..._"

"_Will stop me on my jour..._!" Stoick suddenly started singing, making everyone fall silent until Hiccup elbowed him sharply in the ribs and snapped "_Dad!_" rather sharply at him. "_...ney..._"

"Shh!" Hiccup hissed.

"Sorry..." Stoick mumbled as Artair and Kyra laughed quietly. Ember and Flint were nearly besides themselves with laughter, as were the triplets. Artair took a breath before continuing.

_If you will promise me your heart,_

_And love..._

He paused and waited for Kyra to start singing herself. True, everyone had heard the woman's crystalline voice as the Song of the Adriatic had torn through the mist back at the pirates' fort but that song had been full of power and danger. Artair missed his wife simply singing...just singing. He longed to hear that voice again, without the deadly force that brought back her powers when she was at her lowest moments. The silence that followed made him worry and he backed away slightly with a sigh. Maybe Kyra wasn't ready...

_And love me for eternity._

The crystalline clarity of a voice filled the house as Kyra allowed her vocal chords to sing as she'd done years ago. Ember gasped and smiled – this voice was the same she'd heard at the pirates' stronghold but this time it was gentler, more beautiful than powerful. Flint and the triplets were also stunned to silence at their aunt's voice whilst the grownups had smiles of joy stretching across their own faces. Kyra took a deep breath before turning to face her husband with a strong gaze set into her face.

"_My Dearest One, my Darling Dear,_" she sang as she allowed Artair to lead her away from the cooking pot and into the main hall of the house where everyone else was gathered. "_Your mighty words astound me,_" she added with a smile stretching over her own face. Kyra was so caught up in the moment she let herself go that she failed to noticed Artair leading her subtly into the dance that accompanied the song. "_But I've no need of mighty deeds..._" Kyra's eyes suddenly widened in shock horror as she realised what was going on...she was a terrible dancer. "_When I...feel your arms..._ Not the dancing!" she squealed pleadingly as Artair spun her around. Kyra stumbled over her own feet and not because she was tired. "NOT THE DANCING!"

Too late. Artair was already leading his wife into a clumsy version of the dance which he had learnt off Hiccup years earlier. Neither Viking was particularly graceful but Artair made sure that his wife wasn't sent flying and kept a firm hand on hers the entire time.

_"__But I would bring you rings of gold_," he sang with a wide beam across his face. Hiccup and Astrid snickered slightly as Kyra was led round Artair's kneeling position and nearly tripped over his leg.

"AH!" she yelped.

"_I'd even sing you poetry_!" Artair continued with a laugh in his voice.

"Oh, would you?" Kyra laughed breathlessly, trying to break away from the dance but being held back by her husband and urged on by those watching. Stoick was beaming and tapping his feet nearby and Ember was nodding her head in joy.

"_And I would keep you from all harm if you would stay beside me!_" Artair finished his verse. Kyra took the cue without missing a beat, although she missed a few steps and clumsily spun under Artair's arms, nearly bashing his head as well as her own nose, as the dance also continued. There were a few 'ows' from Artair as his beloved wife trod on his toes multiple times.

"_I have no use for rings of gold! I care not for your poetry..._" she laughed with the same shimmering quality as her singing. "_I only want your hand to hold..._"

"_I only want you near me_!" Artair finished as Kyra stumbled over her own feet again. Hiccup and Astrid laughed at the sight of the two Vikings dancing clumsily around the room, reunited after far too long apart. Ember was clapping along with the rhythm of the song nearby and Flint was tapping his feet as well as swaying along next to her. As Artair made sure Kyra didn't get too dizzy and Kyra carried the tune over Artair's slightly flat tone, the song continued.

_To love and kiss; to sweetly hold_

_For the dancing and the dreaming..._

"Whoa!" Kyra chortled as Artair lifted her in his arms and spun her around. She landed awkwardly but Windwalker stood nearby to make sure she wasn't sent flying into the fish baskets, nudging her forwards before she fell over backwards.

_Through all life's sorrows and delights_

_I'll keep your love inside me!_

_I'll swim and sail on savage seas_

_With ne'er a fear of drowning..._

The song suddenly came to a halt as Artair and Kyra stopped dancing. A silence fell in the room as everyone waited for the song to end – Artair placed a caressing hand on Kyra's cheek and she echoed the movement.

"_And gladly ride the waves of life..._" Artair sang quietly as Kyra smiled. A tear streaked down her freckled face before she finished what her husband had started.

"_If you would marry me,_" she finished with a beautiful clarity to her voice that sent shivers down everyone's necks. Contrasting the otherwise jovial jig most of the song had been, the final note hung in the air lovingly as if it were the most precious treasure throughout the far north. As the song finished, Artair and Kyra pulled each other into a hug again – this time, Ember let her parents have their moment before Artair gazed into his wife's mismatched eyes.

"You ready to come home, Kyra?" he asked gently. Kyra glanced at Ember who nodded as if to say she'll be fine and would make her own decision once she was ready. Until then, she wanted her parents to have their own chance at happiness. Ember had lived a happy life on Berk whilst her parents wrestled with the turmoil of not knowing whether or not their other family members were dead, alive or even safe. They needed to get away from that. Kyra looked back at Artair who stood an inch shorter than her.

"I've had enough of running, that's for sure," she replied with a sly smirk before nodding. "Yes."

* * *

**Oh, my golly goodness! I am so sorry I haven't updated in ages, guys! Basically, I'm uploading this plus the first two chapters of ****_How a Hofferson Trains her Dragon 2_**** as a celebration of FINALLY getting all of my coursework done (exams are yet to come but I've got one major bit of school out the way). After this I'll be going dormant again but you've waited long enough for an update on this story so here you go.**

**Fluffy chapter is fluffy but I wanted a ****_Dancing and the Dreaming_**** moment in here - don't ask me why, just...reasons. Anyway, thanks again for your patience, guys! See you guys soon.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen: Unexpected Guests**

Three days later and Kyra had refreshed herself to the point where she felt presentable and ready to travel once again. Her matted jaw-length hair was now softened, although it still retained the scruffiness the Haddock siblings had always been known for, and her wardrobe had scrubbed up nicely as well. Stoick had insisted on getting his daughter a new tunic from the seamstress – a dark green one that resembled one that Astrid had made her for her fifteenth birthday. Her dragon healing had barely subsided at all and so she'd recovered from her general fatigue and regained her strength fairly quickly, although Hiccup had noticed that his sister had taken longer to recover than when she'd been a teenager.

"Well, me barely using these powers for twelve years probably didn't help," Kyra shrugged when her brother asked her about it.

"But you were stuck in that other world for just as long and that didn't seem to matter – you were fine once you got the hang of them," Hiccup pointed out. Kyra sighed and glanced at the birthmarks on her hands. Hiccup frowned when he saw that they looked faded, like an old painting.

"I guess I'm getting old," Kyra joked with a slight laugh but Hiccup caught a slight sadness in there. "I'm not entirely sure, Hiccup," she sighed. "If I ever get into contact with Ivor again I'll ask him about it." Ivor was the Dragon God of Spirit and Kyra's kind-of-half-brother (well, she was the human incarnation of his sister so I guess it counted). Hiccup decided to change the subject.

"Looking forward to going home?" he asked with a kind smile. Kyra and Artair were preparing to head back to the Meathead Isles once the winds were blowing in the right direction. Whilst she belonged in the skies, Kyra also loved sailing and wanted to return to the Meathead Isles in such a fashion. Kyra smiled back.

"More than anything," she replied when a shout cut the conversation short. With a huff, Hiccup began storming towards the source of the confrontation. Kyra winced when she spotted Spitface, Snotlout's son, and Flint having a punch up. Whilst she liked the new generation of Dragon Riders on Berk, Kyra didn't envy her brother for having to deal with them.

"BOYS! CAN IT!" Hiccup bellowed, wrenching the bickering teens apart.

"Aw! But it was just getting good!" Sticks groaned next to her cousin. Hiccup shot her a glare – judging by the small crowd, this didn't appear to be a typical Spitface vs. Flint argument.

"Okay, who set up the bets this time?" he growled in frustration.

"Spitface called me weak then Stone set up the bet..." Flint mumbled.

"You punched me first!" Spitface snapped in retaliation. Hiccup sighed – what was he going to do with these two?

"Spitface, hate to say it – you're as bad as your dad was when he was your age," he huffed before turning to face Flint. "Son – also hate to say it...you're just like your mother." Flint pulled a face. "Look, I don't know or care who started what but can you _please_ give each other a break?" Hiccup pleaded.

"Sorry, Chief..." Spitface muttered. Kyra walked over and her gaze flickered between her nephew and Snotlout's son. Under her piercing mismatched gaze, Spitface shuddered slightly. "Sorry, Flint..."

"Apology accepted," Flint replied sharply before storming off. Hiccup raised a hand after him but made no further move to follow him. Kyra frowned – clearly there was something she'd missed. She cast a glance at her brother and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, mirroring the action he'd made so many times in the past to keep her calm and stop her from entering her Shifter Mode.

"That phase?" she asked with a grimace. Hiccup sighed.

"Dad never really had this problem with me so I've no idea how to deal with it as a chief _and_ a father," he replied. Kyra winced – well, she couldn't exactly offer any advice herself. She had limited experience as an actual mother and she'd missed Ember growing up. "Sorry, you don't have to bother with this…"

"Nonsense," Kyra smiled comfortingly. "I'm his aunt – of course I can bother myself with this." Hiccup smiled weakly. Kyra had missed her chance of being a doting aunt so she was making the most of her time on Berk to catch up with lost time. "What is it with you shouldering stuff like this on your own?" she added, with the slightest hint of the dry tone that the Haddock Family were famous for.

"I do not!" Hiccup protested.

"Well, I guess there was..._that_ time," Kyra shrugged.

"Thanks for the reminder..." Hiccup shuddered. Kyra winced in apology. Desperate for a break in the conversation, Hiccup crossed his arms and turned his gaze to his sister completely, having been staring a little bit blankly at the plaza for the last few minutes. "So...uh...how're things going with Artair and Em?"

"Artair's just like he was when I first met him," Kyra replied fondly."Plus, he's looking forward to going home." Hiccup pressed about Ember. "I've spoken to her about coming back to the Meathead Isles with me and her father or staying her," Kyra explained. "Em said she'd give it some thought but I'm not about to pressure her into anything she doesn't want to do," she said definitely. Hiccup nodded in understanding. "It's not like she knows the Meathead Isles like she knows this place..."

"She knows Heather, Magnus and Iona pretty well," Hiccup pointed out although hiding the sadness in his voice was no easy task. He would be lying if he said that Ember wasn't as much of a daughter to him as the triplets were and everyone knew it, Kyra included.

"Still – it's _her_ decision to make," Kyra said firmly. The sound of a large horn echoed through the village, causing Kyra to jump nearly three feet into the air. "HOLY...! Sweet Freya, Hiccup!" she exclaimed as Hiccup stood to attention, his eyes darting around the area. "What _was_ that?!"

"Uh...we've got company," Hiccup replied, running as fast as his leg would allow him towards the cliff overlooking the docks. Astrid was already running towards it at full pelt closely followed by Flint and Ember whilst the other Riders (both generations) were also arriving on the scene. "What've we got?" Hiccup asked.

"Hey, we just got here!" Ruffnut protested. "We're not _that_ fast!"

"I'm not seeing anything on the water..." Fishlegs muttered, his brow furrowing. Ember squinted with a hand shielding her eyes against the glare of the sun on the water to check the horizon.

"There! The sky!" she exclaimed, pointing at a single shadow heading towards the shoreline. Hiccup began asking around for a telescope when Kyra suddenly hissed. Her right eye flashed Night Fury green and her mouth twisted into a snarl. Ember winced and everyone else bar Hiccup took a few steps back. "Mum?" she mumbled. Kyra growled something in Dragonese which sent the dragons and Hiccup all collectively gasping.

"Language!" Hiccup yelped. Astrid made a face and cast a look at Snotlout who shrugged.

"Kyra, who is it?" Artair asked calmly. Kyra calmed herself down so that her marks weren't flickering but her death-glare remained plastered on her oval-shaped face.

"Take a wild guess..." she hissed. Hiccup gave up his search for a telescope – he didn't exactly need one when his sister had just had _that_ kind of a reaction to whatever dragon was approaching the island. He turned to the others.

"Let's head down to the docks," he suggested. "Kyra..."

"No, I'm not sitting this one out," Kyra snapped. Hiccup put his hands up defensively as he began heading towards the walkway that led down to the docks.

"Okay, okay...feel free..." he muttered nervously. Hiccup might have been one of the few people who was able to keep Kyra calm when she was on the verge of going into Shifter Mode, but that didn't meant that she didn't terrify him all the same. As the group began heading down to the docks, Astrid turned to the other adult riders with her brows furrowed in sarcastic confusion.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "Is no one going to talk about the fact that Hiccup just said, '_language_'?"

When the gang reached the docks, pretty much everyone realised why Kyra had cussed in Dragonese, so much so that even the _dragons_ had been horrified at her language. The people landing on the docks weren't exactly her favourite people in the world.

/\

Hiccup sat with his head in his hands. Okay, Alvin showing up on Groundsplitter, he could accept...kind of. The treaty between the Hooligans and the Outcasts had meant that he could at least hold a civil-ish conversation with the old man, if through gritted teeth at times. _Dagur_ on the other hand showing up with that blasted Skrill of his was another matter entirely. As soon as everyone had gathered in the Great Hall for a meeting (sans the kids – Ember had gone to take her anger out on some trees, as had Flint, given that Dagur was back on Berk, and the others had decided to join them) as to what had happened and why Dagur was on Berk with Alvin, pretty much all of the Dragon Riders were giving Dagur enough death glares to bury him so far beneath the Earth they might as well have dig him into Helheim. Things had calmed down from the initial Astrid-Heather-and-Kyra-all-beating-the-snot-out-of-the-Berserker-chief-on-the-docks-upon-arrival but Hiccup knew he was still treading on eggshells for as long as that man was on his island.

Currently, Alvin was delivering news as to what had happened back in the pirates' stronghold. Excellinor had apparently proven to be far too great a foe, even at her ancient old age, for her son to handle. Everyone knew the Outcast Chief was still incredibly strong in his old age so the fact that his mother who might as well be a fossil by now had handed his butt to him on a silver platter was more terrifying than it was hilarious.

"She is a real witch, that woman and I'm not just talking about insults," Alvin explained, pounding his fist on the table. "She has a hold over all those pirates, and the Berserkers still under her command."

"Oh, what?" Heather growled mockingly at Dagur. The pair had a familial connection that Heather was far from proud of, hence she never spoke of it to anyone. Iona was horrified to discover who her uncle on her mother's side of the family was. "You lose track of your entire tribe _again_?"

"Hey!" Dagur protested. "That woman is not to be messed with!" he argued.

"This coming from the o-so-feared Dagur the Deranged?" Heather sneered mockingly.

"Sis, you are lucky you still have your head after that remark!" Dagur snapped.

"Nobody is removing anybody's head on _my_ island!" Hiccup interrupted sharply. Heather shot a pout at him. "I mean it, Heather," Hiccup added firmly. Dagur took the chance to continue where Alvin left off.

"She's a master manipulator, that fossil," he explained. "She offers you what you want and somehow, you don't have any choice but to work for her."

"Doesn't sound like 'magic' to me," Astrid frowned dryly.

"You don't know the half of it, girl!" Dagur snarled threateningly. Hiccup snapped at him to mind his manners. "She offered to grant me my tribe's honour back! Our glory! Our power!"

"That was only gonna end well, wasn't it?" Snotlout remarked.

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Alvin agreed. "She holds a spell over people – doesn't mean she delivers on her promises. So long as she gets what _she_ wants, she could care less what happens to others."

"But what did she want with Kyra and Em?" Fishlegs wondered.

"That's what I would like to know as well," Hiccup concurred.

"Well, duh!" Ruffnut cut in. "She's only the Goddess of Dragons! Who wouldn't want her on their side?"

"I know I'm sure glad she's on ours," Tuffnut nodded. "I'm still feeling the time she went Shifter mode on us and rammed me into a watch tower." Dagur growled darkly.

"Exactly," he said.

"Wait, the twins were _right_?" Astrid spluttered. Ruffnut and Tuffnut high fived each other in the background.

"Control the Goddess of Dragons...surely that would mean all dragons would follow your lead," Dagur pointed out. Hiccup shuddered – he knew of the hierarchy of dragons. Each Nest followed an Alpha. In turn, that Alpha would bow to no one but Lohikäärme, the Goddess of Dragons, and her brother, Ivor, God of Spirit. "Not to mention the phenomenal cosmic powers that come with it."

"But Kyra wouldn't just blindly follow anyone," Heather realised. "Excellinor needed leverage," she added, casting a glare at Alvin, remembering that he'd once used a similar technique with her.

"You hit the nail on the head," Alvin nodded. "The Shifter's girl was a perfect way of making her do what my old woman wanted." Hiccup glanced at Kyra, who hadn't spoken for the entire meeting. Her deadly gaze, made of two bright and venomous Night Fury eyes, was fixated hatefully on Dagur who had yet to notice.

"Look, I understand Alvin coming back to Berk," Hiccup sighed. "What I don't get is why _you're_ here, Dagur," he added, his eyes narrowing. "You've done nothing to earn our trust or done anything else that will make us help you."

"Well, I know the ins and outs of that witch's fortress!" Dagur protested. "You help me get my men back, and I'll leave your tribe well alone. Deal?"

"Add extended family into those propositions and I'll consider it," Hiccup replied back, quickly and cynically. Dagur huffed.

"Fine, fine, fine! Tribe _and_ extended family," he gave in. Hiccup sat in contemplation for a while and as he did, Dagur's gaze finally shifted to Kyra. She hadn't moved the entire time everyone else had been talking.

"What?" Alvin shrugged nonchalantly.

"Why haven't you two kicked the bucket yet?" Kyra growled, directing the question at Alvin and Dagur. Hiccup let out a groan of exasperation as he refrained from head-desk-ing.

"Oh, for the love of Loki! Kyra!" he exclaimed. "_When_ are you going to stop asking that?" Kyra shot a glare at her younger brother. He _knew_ why.

"Well, maybe I'll stop asking once SOMEBODY AROUND HERE GIVES ME A THOR-DAMN ANSWER!" she yelled angrily. Dagur sighed and gave in.

"Look, _his_ old lady got ticked when you and the brat escaped," he explained dryly, shooting a thumb in Alvin's direction. "Decided to take it out on the both of us. We fought her. She won, but didn't finish us off," he added. "That is all." Kyra cast a look at Heather.

"I never thought I'd say this but I'm disappointed in that woman," she muttered. Heather smirked and nodded in reply. She sympathises with Kyra on a joint hate of Alvin and Dagur – after all, Alvin _had_ taken out Kyra's left eye when she was a teenager and Kyra was known to hold grudges towards those she felt hadn't properly redeemed themselves.

Hiccup groaned and let his head fall into his hands. This was going to take a while.

* * *

**SPOT THE REFERENCES! Sorry this thing is taking forever to update. I'm coming up to a part in the story which I've wanted to write for a long time so hopefully I can churn out the chapters a little better.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Battle Plan**

I'd gotten back from throwing weapons into tree trunks with Flint and the others that afternoon long after Hiccup had sent Dagur to the other side of the island to stay. No one blamed him for wanting the Berserker chief as far away from the main village as possible and, in fact, people were grateful that he d been placed within close proximity to Mildew's old cabbage patches (after I don t know how many years, those things still stank to Valhalla!). Have to say, seeing Mum, Astrid and Heather going full-out on that Son of a Half Troll was a spectacle - honestly, I wish there was some kind of way to replay the event whenever I wanted (Mum said something like that existed in some other world and time...so, she s a space-time-traveller as well, now? My head hurts there s way too much to keep track of with that woman). Speaking of Mum, I'd noticed she was staying as far away from Alvin as possible as well - apparently he was the reason for her dragon-eye but I decided not to press on that issue seeing as it was clearly a sensitive one.

"You sure this isn t going to make things awkward for whatever s going to happen now that Excellinor s got a whole army of Berserkers under her command?" I asked Hiccup as Flint and I bumped into him in the village plaza. Kyra had gone on an afternoon flight with Windwalker to cool off. Hiccup sighed as a black shadow flew overhead.

"Oh, it s already making things awkward," he replied. "It's taking me, Astrid _and_ the dragons to prevent her popping someone s head off."

"Aunt Kyra really gets that angry? Flint grimaced as I barfed next to him.

"Well, it s never actually _gotten_ to that point but...she's come close," Hiccup admitted.

"She knows how to hold a grudge, that's for sure," Flint noted.

"Sure does," Hiccup agreed. "She can drop them when she wants but this time..."

"She s being as stubborn as Grandpa?" I offered. Hiccup replied that she was being even _more_ stubborn than Stoick, if that was at all possible!

"I wish I knew what I could do to help her drop things but then again, I don t really know her as well as I d like to as a brother," he sighed. Flint and I shared a glance - didn't Hiccup mention at one point in our childhoods that Kyra had spent a great deal of time away from home when she was young? That would explain why he didn't know as much about her as a sibling normally would.

"Hey, you know her well enough to know when she needs space," Flint pointed out. "Wish the triplets knew that about me..." he grumbled.

"Flint, they're five!" Hiccup smirked jokingly.

"Even so!" Flint bit back. Hiccup chuckled and ruffled his son's hair slightly - after the occasional spats I d seen between various people over the past few days, this was a comfort.

"Come on," Hiccup beckoned. "From what Dagur's saying, Excellinor's desperate enough to get her hands on Kyra and you, Em, to bring the fight directly to us."

"Wait, we're actually allowed to get in on battle planning this time?" I blinked in surprise.

"We're gonna need all the dragon riders we can get," Hiccup winked. "Besides, you kids are the best of your generation in the archipelago."

"Eh - you wouldn t last ten seconds without us anyway, Dad," Flint smirked, managing a small nudge to his father's ribs before running ahead to avoid being caught in a father s headlock with his hair being ruffled again. Hiccup laughed softly as his son ran ahead, as did I.

_That _was how a parent and child should be getting along.

/\

Hiccup cast his eyes around the Great Hall later that afternoon - nearly everyone he'd asked to attend the battle plan meeting had showed, but there was still emphasis on 'nearly'. There was one face still missing and Hiccup would rather have Kyra around to make sure she didn't go off on her own and do something stupid when it got round to it.

"She's a Haddock," Astrid shrugged when Hiccup had voiced his concerns to her. "You guys do one thing stupid then one thing crazy on a regular basis."

"Well, you know better than the rest of us put together that the line between those two things is very thin, milady," Hiccup grumbled, leaning on the table as he cast his gaze around the hall.

"True, Astrid smirked. "Still, I wouldn t worry too much about her. You know as well as we do that she can take care of herself..."

"And yet she still got herself captured!" Hiccup pointed out in an undertone.

"After _twelve_ years!"

Hiccup couldn t argue with that. Kyra had evidently been able to keep herself going for the twelve or so years she was in hiding. Still, he hated not knowing what she would do if left to her own devices...he knew that he didn't really know his sister at all. After all, they'd both been absent from each other's lives for nearly thirty years in total. Altogether, they'd only spent just over a year living as siblings should. Hiccup found himself once again inadvertently envying the Thorston twins, despite their tendency to bicker.

The door to the Great Hall opened, cutting through the soft chatter - it was Kyra, bow in hand. There was an echo of a gasp around the hall, however, when another figure followed her; a figure that the Hooligans, as well as Artair and a handful of visiting Meatheads, all recognised.

"Ivor..." Hiccup greeted. Astrid blinked in surprise. The God of Spirit...the one responsible for the events of thirteen years ago turned ally of Man and Dragon...the god who had once taken the form of the monstrous High Diving Darkling and now resembled Hiccup the way a brother would. "This is a surprise."

"Kyra contacted me," Ivor replied softly, tinges of regret and sadness still evident in his voice. "As I understand it, someone threatens you all."

"If Excellinor s goal is to use me to force the dragons to follow her, I figured having Ivor would help in a fight," Kyra explained. The teens, grouped at one corner of the table, had to manually close their mouths after their jaws hit the table - so _this_ was the great Ivor, God of Spirit.

"Any help we can get is more than welcome," Hiccup smiled in thanks. "I appreciate your coming here, Ivor."

"Not at all, Ivor nodded. "I owe you and Kyra much. This is the least I can do to repay you."

"How many times do we need to tell you to drop that?" Kyra smirked, walking to her place at the table beside her brother. Her gaze fell on Dagur who was standing opposite and for a moment, her remaining human eye flashed Night Fury green. "Grrr..."

"Urgh...this again..." Dagur grumbled.

Dagur, you're not exactly on anyone's good side," Hiccup pointed out dryly. "Zip it."

Ivor stood protectively by Kyra s side as Hiccup finally began the meeting although whether it was to stop anything happening to his mortal in-a-sense-half-sister or to stop her from going ballistic at anyone else was anyone s guess.

/\

"That's _the_ God of Spirit?" Scalene hissed to the rest of us as Hiccup began talking. "We've got an _actual god_ among us?!"

"Normally I d say 'We heard you the first time'," Sticks muttered in response. "But I see where you re coming from..."

"This ll be something to go down in the songs! Spitface grinned. "The remaining God of the Dragon World, gracing us mere mortals with his presence in our hour of need!"

"It's times like this where I am so glad your mom's on our side, Em," Flint muttered in my ear. I smiled slightly with pride - so was I.

"Having the Dragon Shifter as a relative sure has its perks, huh?" I noted.

"This is gonna be a cinch now - Excel...what's-her-face doesn t stand a chance," Stone snickered. We all smirked eagerly back - that was something we could all agree on. With the power of the Dragon Shifter _and_ the Dragon God of Spirit on our side, who in the Archipelago stood a chance? We had this!

We were so busy chatting among ourselves that we barely caught what the adults were saying until Heather hissed at us to listen.

/\

"Kids! Heather hissed, noticing the quiet chatter from the teens corner of the table whilst Hiccup was trying to lay out the battle plans.

"Sorry, Mom..." Iona muttered.

"Sorry, Heather..." the others chorused.

"Repeat that last bit for the kids, cous," Snotlout sighed. "Don't think they were listening."

"That I shall, Snotlout," Hiccup nodded. "As I was saying, kids, you re our Surprise Attack Squad."

"You and your dragons are quick enough to stay out of trouble," Fishlegs explained. "And apart from Ember, Excellinor's attention won't be on you."

"I'm not sitting this one out, just saying," Ember cut in with an insistent glare before she glanced at her...other uncle, she guessed? What _was_ Ivor to her?

"Never said you had to - just stay out of trouble," Hiccup reiterated.

"I'll make sure to step in if anything does threaten to happen," Ivor promised. Kyra shot him a thankful smile. "Ember carries the blood of the Dragon Shifter herself. She might as well be kin to me as well."

"You have our thanks, Ivor," Astrid nodded.

"Excellinor prefers to attack under a cover of darkness," Alvin explained. "It'll take a few days for her and her lackeys to sail from the Pirate Stronghold to here but you can bet your last chicken that she'll wait for nightfall."

"No way am I betting Chicken on anything!" Tuffnut exclaimed. Ruffnut facepalmed.

"Don't tell me you're _still_ attached to that thing!" she cried in exasperation.

"We go back a long way!" Tuffnut protested. "We've been through many trials together and..."

"Don t let your wife hear you say that."

"Guys!" Hiccup interrupted before the Twins Argument could spiral out of control. "Thanks for the info, Alvin - we ll set up night patrols. And I want dusk all the way till dawn, got that?"

There was a mumbling of confirmation around the hall. Someone made a suggestion that Excellinor may know that Alvin knew her usual plan of attack and therefore might plan a daytime strike to throw them off kilter - Hiccup understood that this was a possibility and so decided to set up an alarm system which Night Patrol could sound in case of a nighttime attack, whilst at the same time, everyone would be equally prepared for a daytime one with the usual Berk Guard patrols around Berk s borders.

"When Excellinor arrives here we drive her away from her followers," Hiccup ordered. "I want Boulder and Fear Class dragons taking care of the boats - at this point I don t care if they sink or not. We take all prisoners to a place where they can t make battleships once this is over."

"Twins," Astrid called. Ruffnut and Tuffnut stood to attention. "You two lead that attack with a smoke screen. No blowing anything up until the rest of the squadron arrive. Fishlegs - you lead the follow up."

"Yes, Ma am!"

_Wow. The twins following orders. The gods really were smiling on Berk that day._

"Kids - I want you lot taking care of anyone who makes it to shore," Hiccup instructed. "Heather, Magnus, Snotlout - you three cover them." Shouts of affirmation echoed through the hall before Hiccup continued.

Kyra will lead Excellinor away from the main fight - if we can get her on her own we ve got a better shot at this."

"How's Raven Point for a target location?" Kyra suggested. Hiccup shrugged.

"Sounds pretty good to me," he replied. "Alvin - any objections?"

"Provided I can take care of that old hag once and for all, I could care less," Alvin responded. Kyra hissed under her breath in his direction but refrained from making any spiteful remarks when Windwalker growled warningly from behind her.

"**Don t lose your temper. He s an ally for now - we need him alive.**"

"**Yeah? Well, I m not promising I ll refrain from breaking something once this is over.**"

"Kyra!" Hiccup and Ivor hissed. Kyra s face set into a glare and she averted eye contact. "Anyway...Astrid, Artair and I will provide cover for both Kyra and Alvin."

"We forgetting a certain someone over here?" Dagur growled dryly from his spot in the hall.

"You'll be kept under close watch by the Meatheads until the Berserkers no longer side with Excellinor," Artair answered with a dark look on his face.

"Wait, am I not fighting?" Dagur asked, almost innocently but no one was buying it.

"You think we actually _trust_ you to fight after all the garbage you've pulled on all of us in the past?!" Heather snarled, her fists clenching so tightly her knuckles turned white. "No, you re staying _right_ where we can see you until we are _sure_ that you won't just turn around and stab us in the back!"

A chorus of agreement filled the hall almost immediately and it took Hiccup signalling Toothless to let out a roar in order to bring order back to the meeting. Hiccup took a deep breath and wiped his brow before continuing - gods, chiefing was hard work...

"Heather's right, Dagur," he sighed. "Even with your vow to leave us alone, we can't trust you."

"Like you can trust the Outcast any more than me," Dagur scoffed.

"Unlike you, Alvin has proved a _valuable_ ally to us," Hiccup contradicted with a growl starting to sound in his voice. Kyra scoffed next to him but Hiccup elected to ignore it. "I suggest that if you want us to trust you, that you do something to actually _earn it_."

/\

"Your dad is actually scary when he's angry..." Iona muttered in Flint s ear next to us. We nodded in agreement - Hiccup didn t usually get angry but when he did it was normally the 'quiet angry' which was sometimes a lot more terrifying than Astrid's 'loud angry'. With her, at least we knew that we d done something to make her blow her top. With Hiccup, we could never predict if he was going to control his anger or if something was going to explode.

"He's never like this when we re fighting!" Spitface hissed.

"He gets _annoyed_ at that, not angry," Flint pointed out. I pulled a face and shrugged - I guess there was a slight difference but I was happy that Flint knew said difference.

We looked up as Hiccup began rounding the meeting off - it seemed that he was satisfied that people knew the plans for the battle to come and was ready to begin preparations. His final instruction was for all children in the village who had yet to reach Advanced Dragon training to be kept under Stoick's care during the battle - the man might be old but he still had plenty of fight left in him.

I turned to the others and suggested heading out to the forest to go over fighting manoeuvres with the dragons, a suggestion which was agreed to by everyone (even Scalene, which was a surprise given she usually stayed out of fights) so we headed outside and began the journey to the Wild Zone.

If we were going to be fighting in this one, we needed to make sure that we dealt the hits but avoided being hit in return.

/\

If the actual fighting was the most exciting part of a battle, then waiting for it to actually start was the most tedious and the most nerve-wracking. Honestly, I don t think I ve ever seen Flint more on edge than I have over the last four days or so.

"Gods! We're ready for them!" he would sometimes yell at random moments. "Why can t they just get here already so we can get this over with?!"

"And...now I see how much you actually take after your mother," Iona smirked as she groomed Sunset's scales for the evening. Flint flushed wildly which I couldn t help but smirk at - gods, my br..._cousin_, sorry...was such a dork sometimes around Iona. It was endearing.

"Flint, we're all getting impatient," I pointed out, feeding Pondskater (along with the rest of his Night Fury siblings) some cod leftover from yesterday's catch. "But even though Excellinor's coming to us, she's not going to stick to _our_ schedule."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah - I get it," Flint huffed as he scratched Starlight behind the ears. The Night Fury cooed softly with affection but when Flint moved away to grab a whetstone to sharpen his axe, she growled impatiently at him - in the end, Flint had no choice but to go back to pampering her. "You are one spoiled lizard, you know that, Star..."

"What can I say?" I joked. "We're their humans as much as they're our dragons."

"I sure hope things stay this way," Iona sighed wishfully. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if mankind and dragons could always work alongside each other like this?"

"Well, provided there's always a Dragon Shifter, the link between Man and Dragon is always gonna be there," Flint reminded her. I nodded in agreement - the cycle of the Dragon Shifter repeated once every century and supposedly a curse surrounding the cycle had been lifted (something about the Shifter being killed by someone in a fit of rage? Hiccup didn't exactly go into the minute details of this). Why should the Dragon Shifter ever disappear? Why shouldn't the dragons and humans ever not be able to live alongside one another?

"To think this whole way of life wouldn't have been possible without your dad," I smiled at Flint who also smiled slightly with pride.

"Yeah...you know, sometimes I don t think he realises how amazing a person he actually is," he muttered. "I mean...look at everything he s achieved. And he still doesn't think he's good enough."

Iona and I shared a glance with each other - pretty much everyone could see this except Hiccup himself. Even as a revered chief and hero, he still felt that he could do better. I knew that he didn't consider himself to be a great father due to his interactions with Flint outside of the walls of the house, no matter how many times Astrid and I tried to tell him otherwise; we could guess that he felt guilty for not being able to keep an eye on his sister (brothers, eh?); and there were a whole load of other things which he felt he could be better at even if everyone else kept telling him that he was doing an amazing job as it was!

"I guess some things are just difficult to get through your father's head," a voice sounded. It was Astrid.

"Oh! Mom I...we..." Flint stammered but Astrid waved it off with a small smile.

"Don't worry - some things need to be said," she shrugged. "So, how was training today?"

"I'd say we're ready to take on anything," Iona replied. "Flint's getting coals in his pants because of how long it s taking for the pirates to get here."

"HEY!" Flint yelped in protest but Astrid was already chuckling.

"Guess you _do_ take a lot after me," she noted before her laughter died down. "We can't get too restless - the longer it takes for them to get here, the longer we have to prepare. If anything, this extra time's a blessing."

"How's Mum holding out?" I asked. Astrid winced.

"Spends a lot of time flying with Windwalker," she replied. "She says that having both Alvin and Dagur on the island is stretching her patience to its absolute limits."

"I'm not surprised," I grimaced.

"I won't lie - I'm a little worried about her letting her anger getting the better of her," Astrid admitted. "I mean, true - her Shifter state is powerful but kids, if you see her going into that state, I want you to retreat," she instructed.

"Yes, Astrid," Iona nodded.

"Yes, Mom," Flint said at the same time. I, however, wasn't too sure.

"But she's my mother! Surely she'd calm down if I was there..." I pointed out.

"Hiccup will be able to calm her down just fine - Kyra would never recover if she hurt anyone she cared about," Astrid argued. "Especially you."

"But Hiccup's her brother!" I pointed out. "What makes the risk of hurting him different?!"

"Ember," Astrid cut across firmly. "I just want you to be careful. Kyra's amazing but her powers can be dangerous to everyone. I m just worried she'll lose control during the fight."

"Mom, you're going in circles," Flint pointed out.

"That's why I want you to stay as close by as you can without drawing too much attention from Excellinor," Astrid explained, placing a hand on my shoulder. "You and Hiccup keep Kyra more grounded than the rest of us can - she might keep her temper under control if you're both around."

That...made slightly more sense.

"But I should still retreat at the first signs of trouble - you want to add that?" I asked sarcastically.

"I'm taking a gamble here - I haven t even told Hiccup I'm asking you this," Astrid admitted. "If you get hurt _I'd_ never forgive myself. Look - your mom needs you. But you also need to keep yourself safe, got it?"

"Yes, Ma...Aunt Astrid," I replied with a comforting smile. Astrid grinned warmly back at me and reminded me and Flint to be home in time for dinner as she began heading back to the house. Iona took that as her cue to track down her parents and so hopped onto Sunset's back before taking off into the village, leaving me and Flint by our lonesome.

"Your mum has a weird way of explaining things," I joked.

"It took you twelve years to notice that?" Flint smirked back. We both laughed for a moment, listening to the soft crooning of the Night Furies by our sides as the sun began to dip towards the horizon. For a moment, we were 'twins' again. The 'twins' we were before my past had finally caught up to me. Considering everything that had been happening over the past few weeks, it was a welcome respite.

"I m gonna miss this, Flint muttered.

"Hm?"

"Just us sitting with the Night Furies like this," he continued when I looked at him. "It's not the same with the triplets or any of the others."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Well...you ve found your family now," Flint pointed out. "After this is over you can all go home. You can go to the Meathead Isles and live with Aunt Kyra and Uncle Artair." I stayed silent for a moment before replying.

"Actually...I haven t made my mind up about that yet," I sighed. Flint looked surprised and asked me why. "I don't know...I just...everything's happened a bit quickly. I don't know if I want to go back or stay here...I need a bit more time to think about it."

"Well, no one's gonna stop you whatever choice you make," Flint reassured. "And if you do want to go back to the Meathead Isles, just visit as much as you can," he added with a joking smirk. "The triplets are gonna drive me round the bend if you don't."

"More like you and Spitface won't be able to stop getting down each other's throats," I joked back. We laughed together for a few moments, our Night Furies and their other siblings chortling with us when the sound of a horn penetrated the growing darkness of the evening.

"Please tell me that wasn't..." I groaned.

"It was," Flint winced. "Let's go!"

* * *

**Okay, this chapter has been more trouble to upload than I think it's been worth! I've had to resort to Plain Text uploading as a last resort seeing as nothing else was working so a TON of editing has needed to be done. I've no idea why nothing else (Copy and Paste (my usual method), HTML and Doc. conversion for File Upload) wasn't working and I've emailed the site support about it but nothing's come back yet.**

**Anyway, as I post this, I am now writing the last chapter of this story at long last! I am really sorry it's taken so long to get to this, guys, but thank you so much for sticking with this story and for your support. It really means a lot. Hopefully I'll be able to get this thing finished before the year is up. However, there won't be an upload schedule as I am now at uni so work for that takes priority - I will work on uploading the last chapters of this as and when I can.**

**Until the next chapter, keep reading and writing, feel free to leave reviews (no flames!) or drop me a PM if there are any specific questions you want answering and I'll see you guys around!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen: The Last Straw**

Hiccup nearly cussed out loud when the horn sounded - Odin, dammit! And he was so close to getting that paperwork done as well!

"Nemeses and their timing…" he grumbled as he threw his quill onto the table and began slinging the remainder of his flying armour on. "Toothless!" he yelled. A sleepy growl could be heard from the dragon house out back but the Night Fury Hiccup called his best friend was still ready to greet his rider once Hiccup had exited the house.

"**I'm saying this now - that witch's timing sucks!**" Toothless grunted.

"You're telling me, Bud - that paperwork's gonna be over a week late now…" Hiccup huffed as he leapt onto the dragon's back. "Let's get a better look."

In spite of the darkening evening, Hiccup had just about enough light from the torches and watchtowers set up around Berk to get a decent enough view of the sea from the skies. Shadowy silhouettes of ships were just about visible in the growing darkness, both Pirate and Berserker alike. Hiccup's jaw clenched - he did not really know Excellinor at all, but like Hel he was going to let her endanger anyone in his family.

"Hiccup!" a yell sounded. Turning around as much as he could seated in the saddle, Hiccup flipped up his riding mask to check the source of the noise - it was Astrid. "Looks like they're only coming in for a frontal attack - we haven't heard anything from the scouts around the island."

"Well, that's either very bold or very stupid of them," Hiccup remarked. "Sounds like we've got them all in one place." Another shadow flew up beside them - this time, it was Kyra, shortly followed by Artair.

"No sign of the witch yet," Artair reported.

"I'll draw her out and lead her towards Raven's Point," Kyra reaffirmed. "And I'm apologising in advance for any destruction I may or may not have caused."

"Please try to keep things to a minimum…" Hiccup pleaded. Kyra pulled a face at him.

"Yeah, yeah - I'm well aware of how long it takes to clear up after one of my 'tantrums'," she huffed. "I'll be fine," she reassured. "I'll track Excellinor down!"

She was gone before anyone had a chance to say another word so Hiccup shot Artair a glance.

"Help?" he gulped.

"We got your back," Artair nodded as they shot down towards the docks, Hiccup and Astrid sounding dragon-cry signals as everyone began to swarm to their respective battle positions. Within minutes of the initial alarm being sounded, the cries of confused sailors could already be heard as the Zipplebacks began filling the air around the ships with gas, waiting to be ignited (Hiccup was honestly amazed the Twins had refrained from blowing anything up thus far).

"Boulder Class! Move in!" he yelled, once he was satisfied with the level of flammable gas. Fishlegs crowed an affirmative and moved in with his squadron of Boulder Class dragons, ranging from Gronkles, Grapple Grounders and even Whispering Deaths (and it was taking _all_ of Toothless' self restraint to not go full-out ballistic on those guys and, needless to say, Kyra mentioned much later on that there was plenty of insults exchanged between Groundsplitter and Toothless throughout the battle).

The initial attack worked and plenty of pirates and Berserkers were driven into coming onto land to retreat from their destroyed ships - some began to turn tail back to sea but Astrid's Sharp Class Dragons kept them occupied. Kyra began scanning the battlefield from the air, searching for the one Pirate they needed to take out to end this.

"**Right, you old hag, where are you?**" she muttered in Dragonese. Windwalker growled softly as they scanned the ground when they saw her - the bent-double wizened woman (seriously, how old was this lady?! She made Gothi look like a teenager!), hobbling through the chaos, bellowing orders and obscenities at her followers.

"COWARDS!" she shrieked. "No honour will come from retreating! We will not leave these shores until the Dragon Shifter and her brat are mine!"

"OI! Looking for me, Sack of Bones?!" Kyra yelled, her remaining human eye turning Night Fury green and her marks flickering dangerously. Something kept aching in her back but she opted to ignore it - her focus was getting Excellinor away from her troops.

Excellinor's attention now obtained, Kyra leapt off Windwalker's back, allowing her wings to explode from between her shoulder blades. The surge of power sent an adrenaline rush through Kyra's veins as she began bobbing in and out of range from the fighters on the ground, making sure that all the while Excellinor kept her attention on her.

/\

"Looks like your mom's attracted Excellinor!" Scalene shouted from Ignis. I nodded in confirmation - I could just about see my mother's winged form dodging flying projectiles below.

"I'm going to go keep an eye on her," I announced. "Flint, Iona - you guys keep the team in check up here."

"The chief told us to…!" Spitface of all people exclaimed.

"Mum's got a temper right now - we can't afford her losing it!" I shot back. "If I'm around, she might stay calm enough to…"

"Remembering what happened last time you were around her in this kind of situation!" Sticks pointed out. I winced in remembrance - she had a point. The last time we'd been in a situation of conflict, Mum had completely lost it and had activated her Shifter State in order to protect me. What if Astrid had it all wrong? Perhaps I was better staying out of her sight, where she didn't need to worry about me?

"Alright, you've got a point, Sticks…" I sighed. "I'll stick with you guys for now but if somethings about to happen, I'm heading down there!"

It wasn't an easy decision - I wanted to make sure that Mum was okay - but at the same time, the risk of me getting into trouble and her seeing that increased the risk of her unleashing her full power and there was no telling what would happen to either side during this fight. No, it was better that I stayed out of her sight fir now - I'd drop by at some point when I was sure I'd be able to do so without getting myself into a situation where I could make her worry about me. The less Mum had to worry about, the better. She needed to remain focused - we all did.

I could hear Excellinor's croaky voice even above the screeches of dragons and cries of warriors. She was yelling at her followers, promising them all the glory they could hope for if they accompanied her in her pursuit of the Dragon Shifter. There was something about her words that drew a person in…there was a power in and of itself behind them that made people want to follow her…I felt that draw as well. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I did. This woman did somehow have a magic of her own…

_Far far away, is my pearly Adriatic…_

The music cut through Excellinor's chant like a key unlocking chains or a knife slicing through hemp rope. They reminded me which side I was really on.

_Far far away, my pretty island home…_

Setting my jaw with renewed determination, I yelled at the others to follow me through the docks where we took out some more of the ships - some pirates and Berserkers had the stupid idea to fire cannons at us. Needless to say, said cannons did _not_ last very long when we had two Night Furies and a freaking Gronkle about to prematurely enter its Titan Wing stage on the team (I forgot to mention that, didn't I? But, yeah - Scalene's proud of Ignis).

We brought the dragons back out of range from flying projectiles and began scanning the village again - by the looks of things, most of the Pirates and Berserkers had been rounded up and being gathered into the Great Hall where they would be kept an eye on until we could ship them off elsewhere. I glanced at the remaining groups still following Excellinor - they were still a way off from Raven's Point as the plan had desired but that didn't seem to matter. From what I could see, Alvin was already ready having a fist fight with Excellinor who still had the majority of her focus on Mum.

/\

"Gods…stubborn harpy…" Kyra snarled under her breath. Excellinor was by no means stupid - she wouldn't go too far from the boundaries of the village. There was no way they'd be isolating her at Raven's Point at this rate. Alvin was duking it out with her at ground level but Kyra so desperately wanted her own payback as well, for everything that woman had forced her _and_ Ember to go through.

"She won't budge," Artair grunted from Venom's back.

"We've got nearly every other Berserker and Pirate in her army in custody," Hiccup reported. "If we take her out here, that still wins us the fight."

"So long as she's got her supporters, she won't give in," Kyra growled. "And even then she won't stop."

"What makes you so sure?" Hiccup asked.

"She's like an Alpha - there's something about her that makes others want to follow her," Kyra pointed out. Hiccup winced - true. When he heard Excellinor's command, for a moment he felt like he did thirteen years ago…when he'd been placed under the Curse of the High Diving Darkwing… Now _that_ was a place he never wanted to return to.

"You were keeping us out of that control, weren't you?" Artair noticed. Kyra nodded - the Song of the Adriatic was counteracting the controlling power Excellinor somehow wielded, but it wasn't enough to break it for those who were already too far under the spell.

"A more powerful Alpha can break the command of another, even if the opponent refuses to stop fighting once all of its followers have left," Kyra explained quickly. _And she knew just the Alpha for the job._

Throwing her head back, Kyra let out a screech which seemed to merge all the dragon calls that Hiccup knew of as well as some that he was unable to recognise. However, his ability to understand Dragonese…the ability that Kyra herself had accidentally given him all those years ago just before he'd first revealed to her who she truly was…to understand what she was yelling to the heavens.

"**IVOR, DRAGON GOD OF SPIRIT!**"

A responding banshee-like screech echoed across the oceans as a blaze of turquoise fire streaked across the heavens. Unseen throughout the fight thus far, a Night Fury with emerald green eyes, slightly darker than Toothless', with his back spines glowing bright turquoise, streaked over the battlefield: Ivor's dragon form of choice.

"Help us with this one, Ivor…" Hiccup prayed as Ivor raced across the battlefield, almost going too fast to see. In his wake, a river of turquoise flame followed, flickering on the clothes of those beneath on the ground. Hiccup involuntarily shuddered - he knew this magic was to help them with this but it still brought back not-so-great memories for him.

"**That should help,**" a growl sounded - no doubt Ivor. "**Excellinor's power is gone, although I doubt her determination is.**"

"Perfect," Hiccup thanked. "Kyra! Go!"

"I hear you, Bro!" Kyra yelled back, divebombing towards Excellinor, letting off a plasma blast which barely missed (luckily, Hiccup knew that Kyra's aim was good enough that she wouldn't have missed if she was actually _trying_ to hit her target) both the woman and Alvin. "Still want me? Come get me!"

Letting out a shriek of anger, Excellinor swung at Alvin, who was still strong enough to take the blow but his age was showing. No doubt he was still a mighty warrior but his strength was not as it was and he staggered, giving Excellinor the chance to finally follow Kyra away from the village.

Kyra began leading her towards Raven's Point but they'd barely made it to a clearing in the forest when the woman keeled over.

"Not so powerful now, are you?" Kyra muttered bitterly to herself, taking the chance to make a jack-knife turn back towards the woman who'd ruined her chance at raising her child. Her anger flared…she could see her marks beginning to flicker red.

Before Kyra could land a blow, however, Excellinor struck out the moment Kyra got within arm's reach. The sudden attack sent Kyra tumbling to the ground in shock as her arm was nearly wrenched out of its socket.

"Do you ever _not_ fall for that, Shifter?" Excellinor snarled, her croaking voice oozing with malice. Kyra hissed in response. "And do you think I need human followers to get what I want?"

Kyra replied by spitting in her face, startling Excellinor long enough for her to wrench herself free and spring back onto her feet. However, her wings were injured from the landing but Kyra was too worked up and angry for them to disappear - she was already on the verge of her Shifter State yet she couldn't fly away. Not that she needed to.

"You won't get what you want," she growled. "I don't care what you do. I'll never answer to you."

"Hope you're not stealing all the fun," a gravelling voice sounded as Alvin caught up. Kyra shot him a glare.

"I don't remember asking you to show your face," she snapped.

"I know you've got a score to settle with the hag, but so do I," Alvin huffed.

"You really are a disappointment, Al," Excellinor drooled. "Couldn't even take out this girl when she was thirteen!"

Kyra's memories of that day began sparking wildfires within her mind, feeling anger towards both of there companions in the clearing…

A shadow blocked the moonlight for the briefest of moments, but it was enough for everyone to know that they had company of the winged and scaled kind.

"Can't take out a poor old lady on your own, eh?" Excellinor mocked. "You really are pathetic."

"At least when I've made an agreement with someone, I stick by it," Alvin snarled. "I honour my promises."

"Even more pathetic," Excellinor snickered. "You get nowhere relying on others. Keep them tempted. That way, you have them in your palm. Show them snippets of what they could have…but never quite give it to them. I thought I taught you that."

"I'd say I can't believe you two are related but, honestly, I can see the resemblance," Kyra snarled with a dry anger that still sent goosebumps along the skins of others.

"That hag is NOTHING compared to me!" Alvin snapped.

"Really?" Excellinor. "Then take her out. Prove to me that you are the more Treacherous. You've always wanted to show me up."

Alvin froze in place, staring at both his mother and Kyra - both were daring him to attack Kyra, who stood crouched in a battle ready stance.

"Kyra!" a shout came from above. The voice belonged to Hiccup. "Stand down! Leave Excellinor to Alvin!"

"Stay out of this!" Kyra shouted back.

In the air, Hiccup cussed. All of the riders had gathered in a circle above the clearing, including the teens. Such a large gathering of dragons and riders would usually get an enemy to surrender, but even though Excellinor was outmatched in both numbers and firepower (literally - they saw no weapons on her save for a walking staff), she refused to back down.

"Mum!" Ember yelled. "Please!"

This time, Kyra softened. Her right eye reverted to normal, her makes ceased flickering and her wings finally disappeared. As they did, she suddenly looked tired…her powers were still draining her. Excellinor urged her son to take her out there and then - to use the crossbow he had at his side to accomplish what he failed sixteen years ago. Alvin glanced at his weapon, then Kyra, and then Excellinor.

"My name may be Alvin the Treacherous," he growled. "But as I said. I honour my promises. The Hooligans are worthy allies for me and my tribe. I'd be a fool to lose those allies."

Kyra inhaled sharply - Alvin…the man who'd had no qualms about shooting her left eye out sixteen years ago…was refusing to finish what he'd started. He was refusing to kill her.

"You're a fool for not taking your chances," Excellinor scoffed. Her tiny crooked frame swung forwards, catching her son off guard as she swatted him with her walking staff. In a movement too swift for someone of her age, she grabbed the crossbow. "I'll show you _Treacherous_."

"MUM!" Ember shrieked from the air but Kyra was already two steps ahead - she'd begun running into the trees the moment Excellinor had struck Alvin. Within the trees, even the most skilled marksman who have trouble hitting a moving target.

_FWIP!_

"EEK!"

Kyra skid to a half as she heard the screeches from behind her. The dragons had scattered from their circle above the clearing and were shrieking in panic as their riders tried to calm them but then one horrified shout sent Kyra's blood running cold.

"EMBER!"

"PONDSKATER!"

At the mere mention of her daughter's name, then hearing her own panicked cry, Kyra broke into a sprint back towards the clearing. If there was even the _slightest_ chance of her daughter being hurt…she would never forgive herself.

Dragon instincts kicking in, Kyra didn't even notice her vision blurring to the point where she saw nothing except the fuzzy silhouette of Excellinor and her hearing grew dull until she could make out nothing but echoes of the screams around her.

* * *

**OH, MY WORD! COPY AND PASTE IS WORKING AGAIN!**

**Celebrations for this aside, sorry this is taking forever, guys. Not going to lie, I completely neglected writing of ALL kinds apart from essays before term finished and I might have gotten sidetracked over the holidays. I've still got a week or so left so I'll try to get as much writing as I can done before I head back.**

**Until the next update, keep reading and writing and I'll see you guys around!**


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